09/12/06 Biotech and wheat competitiveness

09/12/06 Biotech and wheat competitiveness

Farm and Ranch September 12, 2006 There was some discussion of biotechnology at last week's summit on the competitiveness of wheat organized by the National Association of Wheat growers and the North American Millers Association. During a teleconference, Guy Shoemaker, Chairman of the North American Millers Association, summed up that discussion. Shoemaker: "We did not have any conclusions on any specific topic today, only picking areas where across the wheat supply chain we could agree to have dialogue. And research was one of those and of course GMOs are part of research, but we did not come away a policy or even an opinion on how to approach that but it is an area we need to discuss." A white paper prepared by the wheat growers and the millers association and used as the starting point for discussion at the summit stated that concerted effort should be directed toward commercializing advanced traits in wheat at the earliest possible opportunity in order to improve its competitiveness and productivity. That white paper also stated that simultaneously, efforts need to be made to ensure marketing systems are in place to assure customers who desire conventional wheat. Not everyone agrees that GMOs will help wheat's competitiveness. An updated report from Iowa State University economist Dr. Robert Wisner, done for the Western Organization of Resource Councils, concludes that the introduction of genetically modified wheat won't reverse the downward trend of planted wheat acres or the declining U.S. export market share. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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