Biotechnology is gradually revolutionizing crop production around the world but is still running into regulatory and consumer resistance says a panel of agriculture experts.

Speaking at a biotech economic summit, David Sippell, the London-based president of Syngenta Seeds Canada, said his company is using genetic modification to develop a growing number of traits in corn that could make the crop easier and cheaper to grow, enhance nutrition in feed corn and boost production in corn grown for ethanol.

Sippell said Ontario is already a leader in specialized crops, leading the world in production of a food-grade soybean used in Asian countries to produce tofu.

"Ontario is extremely well-positioned. We will be one of the first places where these things come to market," said Sippell. But he said other crops such as wheat are lagging behind in genetic modification and have been "orphaned by technology."

Sippell said Canadian wheat, unlike some other crops, is exported all over the world and faces regulatory hurdles in a number of countries. He said Syngenta has developed a wheat variety that resists Fusarium, a disease that can produce low levels of a cancer-causing toxin. "It's a desirable trait from a consumer perspective, but getting approvals for that trait in 50 or 60 countries is time-consuming, costly and politically sensitive," he said.
Peter Gredig, a farmer and agricultural journalist, said wheat faces more resistance from consumers wary of genetically modified crops. "For many people wheat equals bread," he said.  He said some countries have also used genetic modification as an excuse to impose trade restrictions.

Gredig was one of the first farmers to test genetically modified crops in 1996 on his farm south of London. He said most farmers take a pragmatic approach to genetically modified crops, growing them if they make economic sense. "Companies did a great job of explaining what was in it for producers . . . they forgot to explain what was in it for consumers. They saw a loss a control, " said Gredig.

Gredig said the term "genetic modification" was accepted by farmers but regarded with suspicion by consumers. He said consumers should hear that genetic modification could have positive benefits such as enhancing nutrition or creating new medicines.
'"The PR (public relations) can be as important as the crop itself," he said. He said farmers are gradually shifting out of wheat because its productivity is lagging behind other crops such as canola.

"Consumers in some parts of the world are saying 'we don't want this' and producers are looking at the flat productivity of wheat and the economics are telling them to get out."

Source: London Free Press
By Hank Daniszewski