Volga Baikal AGRO NEWS Update on the World Grain Market !!!

GM wheat will not be able to affect the global grain market

Volga Baikal AGRO NEWS Update on the World Grain Market !!!

GM wheat will not be able to affect the global grain market.

In October, Argentina became the first country to allow the production of genetically modified wheat for sale. The government of the country gave permission to the biotech company Bioceres for commercial production of agricultural crops, however, noting that it would be possible to start sales only after approval of the import of such products from Brazil, the main buyer of Argentine wheat. A little later, the Brazilian wheat industry lobbyist Abitrigo, in an open letter, opposed the cultivation and use of GM wheat flour in the country.

According to Bioceres, the new HB4 wheat has a 20% higher yield and drought tolerance, as confirmed by research over the past ten years. The company is negotiating with regulators in Brazil, the United States, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia to authorize the supply of GM wheat.

Professor Laurent Gentzbittel, head of the laboratory of digital agriculture of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), shared with AgroInvestor Magazin his points of view on the prospects for the development of production and sales of GM wheat in the world.

– GM soybeans and corn are already widespread in the world, but how difficult is it to create varieties of GM wheat?

– Unlike grain crops such as corn, wheat is difficult to transform genetically. However, since the 1990s, several methods for genetically modifying wheat have emerged, including a method patented by Japan Tobacco Inc. that has resulted in several varieties of GM wheat.

Eating (but not growing!) Wheat developed by Monsanto since 2004 MON71800, glyphosate resistant, has been formally approved in Australia, Columbia, New Zealand and the United States.

Applications for similar permits for HB4 wheat are currently pending in Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and the United States. In June 2019, a public hearing in Uruguay on the testing of this GM wheat variety ended, and the Uruguay’s ERB approved the testing. In February 2019, the Paraguayan Ministry of Agriculture announced that HB4 wheat had successfully passed all biosecurity tests and was in the process of being evaluated for commercial production.

– How did Bioceres specialists manage to achieve high drought tolerance HB4?

– In 2005, scientists found that the introduction of the gene of sunflower (Helianthus annuus), i.e., the DNA sequence of Helianthus annuus homeobox 4 (HaHB4), into the model Arabidopsis thaliana plant, the latter increased its resistance to drought. In 2019, based on transgenic wheat samples containing the modified HaHB4 gene, a variety of wheat IND-ØØ412-7 (HB4) was obtained, the high yield of which was provided even in areas of agriculture with a deliberately low level of productivity. The high resistance of HB4 to droughts may be due to changes in the behavior of plant hormones; however, the mechanism of this process is still poorly understood.

The essence of the method of gene transformation used, which is called biolistic, is to “bombard” young embryos with gold-coated microparticles – carriers of target genes. Wheat HB4 also contains a gene that confers resistance to ammonium glufosinate herbicides, which are banned for use in the EU.

– How do you assess the prospects for the production of GM wheat in the world: can the technology become widespread or is it still not discussed in the foreseeable future?

– It is difficult to make any predictions here. All attempts to bring GM wheat to the market have so far caused regular protests from the public – this has been the case in Australia, Switzerland and other countries. So far, all these actions have ended in victory for the protesters: they even managed to get the cancellation of an entire Monsanto programon the study of wheat resistant to the Roundup herbicide. Bread is traditionally an important element of the culture of many peoples of Europe, North, Central and South America, therefore wheat is valued there not only for its nutritional qualities. Perhaps it is for this reason that the governments of many countries were forced to listen to public opinion and abandon the cultivation of GM wheat. In addition, it is impossible to draw a clear line between the production of products with and without GMOs, so now the use of transgenic wheat is not officially allowed in any country. Such wheat could be used as part of animal feed, but this is not the most promising direction.

You can read the full interview here: Agroinvestor.ru

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