here comes frankenwheat

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Monsanto courts farmers on gene-altered wheat

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - When leaders of the U.S. wheat industry

gathered for a recent conference in New Mexico, they toasted their

partnership with Monsanto Co., developer of the world's first

genetically engineered wheat.

 

The scene reflects a major shift in the U.S. farming industry's position

on a divisive issue. There has been widespread fear among American

farmers that Monsanto's push for genetically modified wheat would hurt

sales, especially overseas where opposition to genetically engineered

crops is strongest.

 

Winning over farmers has not been easy. Millers and food companies have

said they will not buy biotech wheat for fear consumers will reject it,

and the industry's export experts have warned foreign buyers could

boycott U.S.-grown wheat.

 

Monsanto officials appear to have succeeded in allaying the fears of

farmers by crisscrossing America's mid-section and promising not to roll

out the new wheat until the industry is ready. Farmers want Monsanto to

meet several objectives, including ensuring market acceptance.

 

Along the way, Monsanto has opened its checkbook, providing training,

trips and parties for wheat industry leaders, and giving hundreds of

thousands of dollars to universities where researchers talk up the

advantages of biotech crops.

 

"The (farmer) sentiment has turned fairly significantly," said Dusty

Tallman, former president of the National Association of Wheat Growers.

"They (Monsanto) do invest in our industry. They've done a very good job

of educating producers to the value of what they're going to have to

offer us."

 

The new wheat tolerates Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, making weed

control easier for farmers. And it could open the door for other biotech

crops down the road, Monsanto says.

 

The campaign has been so successful that critics have been effectively

silenced, ordered by industry leaders to talk up - not down - the impact

of gene-altered wheat.

 

Consumer groups both in the United States and other countries have

voiced concern about the unknown long-term health effects of the wheat

and its impact on the environment.

 

But for Monsanto, the wheat is a key part of an arsenal of biotech crops

aimed at turning around its sagging revenues. Wheat, with more acres

planted globally than any other crop, is more widely used for human

consumption than either corn or soybeans, both of which have genetically

modified versions already on the market.

 

After more than a decade of research and development, Monsanto has made

its final submissions for U.S. and Canadian regulatory approval of the

new wheat. Earlier this week, Monsanto received regulatory approval for

its latest biotech corn, designed to fight rootworm.

 

"BUYING GOODWILL"

 

Monsanto's strategy of cozying up to key players to influence industry

issues is far from unique. Its top biotech competitors, like Syngenta AG

and BASF AG, also fund agricultural players up and down the food chain.

 

"We have both an obligation and a need to spend time doing that kind of

outreach and education and putting ourselves in a position to learn,"

said Monsanto spokesman Michael Doane.

 

But as the corporate leader in the controversial arena of transgenic

crops - those that are engineered with genes from other plants and

sometimes other species - Monsanto's efforts to win over wheat farmers

has some critics crying foul.

 

"They're buying goodwill," said Arthur Schafer, University of Manitoba's

director of ethics studies, who has been outraged by reports that

Monsanto paid travel and other expenses for some Canadian growers.

 

"If you're a farm leader, it's a violation of your duty to your members

to accept benefits from a company that has a stake or an agenda that you

have to take a position on," he said.

 

Monsanto's support for the industry is widespread. The company is a

benefactor to the National Association of Wheat Growers, helps

financially support the Wheat Quality Council, provides leadership

training getaways for farmers, offers travel grants to business meetings

and sponsors wheat industry gatherings around the United States.

 

Just last month, Monsanto was a top sponsor - complete with a margarita

party - of an industry meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There, wheat

leaders voted to restrict their export experts from publicizing any

negative views of gene-altered wheat held by foreign buyers.

 

 

Wheat leaders say their close ties to Monsanto give them more say in how

and when biotech wheat will be introduced.

 

"If there are those who think that we're bought and paid for, they're

laboring under false assumptions," said Daren Coppock, the association's

chief executive. He estimated less than 15 percent of his group's

funding comes from Monsanto and other corporate supporters.

 

Still, some say the close-knit relationship at times acts to quiet

critics. After two European milling executives spoke of their opposition

to gene-altered wheat at an industry meeting in Oklahoma City last

summer, wheat officials fretted Monsanto would no longer sponsor their

activities.

 

And two years ago, when North Dakota legislators were debating whether

or not to impose a moratorium on genetically modified wheat, a Monsanto

representative told them the company might have to discontinue funding

research in the state if the measure passed. The measure failed.

 

Another bill seeking to regulate biotech wheat was debated this month in

North Dakota's legislature, but it also failed.

 

UNIVERSITY FUNDING QUESTIONED

 

Critics have long questioned corporate funding of research at public

universities. For its work with Roundup Ready spring wheat, Monsanto has

research partnerships with seven universities in key wheat growing

states, and holds monthly conference calls to discuss research work.

Last month, Monsanto flew researchers from the universities to its St.

Louis, Missouri, headquarters for face-to-face discussions.

 

"The research follows the dollars, so who is this benefiting?" said

Stephen Jones, a wheat breeder at Washington State University, one of

Monsanto's partners. "Are they just coming in to these institutions and

using the public-financed infrastructure to their benefit? The pressure

is tremendous from Monsanto and these other corporations."

 

But wheat researcher James Cook, also of Washington State University,

said collaborations are a necessity in times of tight state budget

appropriations.

 

"Private and public sectors can work together and must work together for

the sake of good science," said Cook, a recipient of grants from

Monsanto as well as Syngenta.

 

At North Dakota State University, Monsanto has funded more than $200,000

in Roundup Ready wheat work. As is the case at WSU - which has a

$145,000 deal with Monsanto - the relationship has created some

controversy. But university officials defend the integrity of the deals.

 

"Scientists remain objective even though research might be funded in

part by a private entity," said Ken Grafton, director of NDSU's

agriculture research station.

 

Monsanto says the research deals benefit society overall, by developing

higher-yielding and more nutritious crops.

 

As Monsanto determines when it will bring the new biotech wheat to

market, some farmers remain skeptical of the efforts.

 

"They're trying to push a product there is no market for," said Louis

Kuster, North Dakota Wheat Commissioner and a farmer himself. "It is

going to be devastating to our market for foreign wheat."

 

But, he said, "Monsanto right now holds the power."

 

Story by Carey Gillam

 

Story 4/3/2003