Report: Genetically Modified Wheat Could Taint Montana Wheat Market

By Deb Courson, Public News Service, Guest Writer, 2-02-10

Genetically modified (GM) wheat is still “poison” for Montana growers’ pocketbooks. A new review of consumer attitudes in Europe, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan shows if GM wheat is introduced in the U.S., buyers will reject Montana wheat because of the possibility of contamination. And that would send prices for hard red spring wheat down 40 percent.

Dr. Neal Blue, a grain market consultant and former research economist at Ohio State University, did the survey because a coalition of some U.S. wheat-farming groups has started pushing GM wheat. He calls that a dangerous move, because action is swift against GM - as seen in 2006, when GM rice was found in American shipments to Europe.

“When they saw it, they immediately ceased imports of United States rice. That’s a very clear message, and it took a couple years for the United States rice growers to clean up all of that.”

The new push for GM wheat is backed by the argument that growers and processors need all the advantages they can get to boost production as wheat acreage has declined. However, Blue says the solution to more production is not in GM - it is in Washington D.C.

“One of the driving factors causing the wheat acres to go down in the United States over time is agricultural policy that favors corn and soybeans.”

The review is a follow-up to a study seven years ago that came to the same conclusion. Blue says genetically modified foods may eventually be accepted in foreign markets, but that is at least 10 years away.

The full report, “A Review of the Potential Market Impacts of Commercializing GM Wheat in the U.S.,” is available at www.worc.org.

This story is reprinted from the Public News Service, a news service that “provides reporting on a wide range of social, community, and environmental issues for mainstream and alternative media.” Click here for more information on the service.

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