09/06/06 USDA report on biotech

09/06/06 USDA report on biotech

Farm and Ranch September 6, 2006 A report prepared by USDA's Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture is now available to the public. The report is called "Opportunities and Challenges in Agricultural Biotechnology: The Decade Ahead." Committee member Michael Schechtman sums up what the report addresses. Schechtman: "I think the report identifies a number of questions about future things that might be advisable for the regulatory system to think about as new products are developed. It talks about some of the international issues that come from USDA being the largest adopter of the technology in the world. And just a host of things that will come from futures products, from the need to maintain consumer confidence and be very transparent in the way the government operates in relation to these things." The report says transgenic varieties thus far in the marketplace have been beneficial to farmers and the environment, but have not provided marketing advantages to food retailers or improved nutrition or taste to attract consumers. Rapid adoption of biotech in the U.S. has been limited to a few crops, corn, soybeans, cotton and canola and the report says that has influenced cropping patterns, affecting production of other crops for which transgenic varieties are not currently available, like wheat for example. Adoption of transgenic crops in other countries, including Argentina and Brazil, also has contributed to changes in U.S. cropping patterns, which the report says could have important implications for market access, food security, research and competitiveness. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network. Report is available at http://www.usda.gov/documents/final_main_report-v6.pdf
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