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Monsanto courts farmers on gene-altered wheat (Thursday, March 6, 2003 -- CropChoice news) -- Carey Gillam, Reuters, 03/04/03: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - 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."
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