Back away from our wheat; Monsanto takes a thrashing

Farmers from Minot to Meadow Lake breathed sigh of relief recently as Monsanto announced it will discontinue efforts to introduce Roundup Ready wheat in North America. The seed and chemical giant bowed to pressure from a wide range of farm groups, who have been reacting to growing opposition from wheat buyers and consumers.

Monsanto had applied to register Roundup Ready wheat in both Canada and the USA, but has come under ever-increasing fire. In Canada, many farm groups, including the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), vigorously objected to the registration process itself. They cited the need to take into account the market impacts Roundup Ready wheat would have, in addition to the environmental and agronomic factors that are routinely assessed.

A recent salvo in the battle was fired by an unlikely source--G. Allen Andreas, the CEO of agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland. In an interview with Reuters news agency, Andreas warned Canadian farmers that they might not want to be the pioneers in pushing a product the world's consumers do not want.

For many opponents of Roundup Ready wheat, the argument is that simple. Eighty-seven percent of the CWB's customers require guarantees that the wheat they are buying is not genetically modified. Since there is currently no way to control the spread of Roundup Ready wheat into conventional varieties, introducing it is equivalent at this time to losing those markets.

Given this, many farmers cannot understand why our varietal registration process does not protect farmers from potential economic disasters. It did at one time. The economic impacts of releasing a variety were once part of the consideration in the process. The federal government eliminated that, apparently to pave the way for Roundup Ready wheat, which Agriculture Canada was developing for Monsanto.

Some supporters of the biotech industry had forecast a chill on wheat research if Monsanto bowed to the pressure. In truth, though, wheat research in Canada and the USA relies little on techniques of genetic engineering. Monsanto's efforts in wheat research in the past have focused largely on transferring Roundup resistance into existing wheat varieties. Monsanto's pattern is to take varieties developed with public money (as are virtually all important wheat varieties in Canada) and insert the Roundup Ready gene into them. Having done so, Monsanto is able to claim ownership of the entire amended variety and its offspring.

While the various sides argue the good and bad about Monsanto's announcement, the issue for Roundup Ready wheat is rather simple. Not only do customers not want it, but farmers do not need it. Weed control systems in wheat are as well developed as the crop itself. When farmers look at the technology fee charged by Monsanto, and the requirement to buy new seed each year, they quickly realize that the benefits of Roundup resistance are minimal to wheat growers. They certainly are not enough to overcome the huge disadvantage of losing your best customers to countries wise enough not to succumb to Monsanto's pressure.

Acceptance of genetically modified food crops has had little success of late. GM flax, potatoes and tomatoes have all been pulled from the market due to customer resistance and farmers' pressure. Monsanto has pulled the plug on GM canola in Australia, as one state after another banned it. In Britain, Bayer Crop Science gave up attempts to commercialize GM maize.

This is not to say that research in GM crops will stop, but until that research actually yields something of unique value to farmers, they are not likely to support such efforts.

Paul Beingessner is a writer, ag consultant and third generation farmer at Truax, SK.

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