News | June '07 | Vision of the future
Scottish-born CEO of Monsanto, Hugh Grant, recently voiced his vision of the GM future:
- Europe edging slowly towards GM acceptance as evidenced by the biotech crops already in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic
- the future of the biotech industry will be determined more by sales of GM crops than by sales of chemical pesticides and fertilisers
- rather than being transformed to have one useful engineered trait, crops plants will have multiple traits from multiple genes stacked so as to deal with a multitude of environmental difficulties at once. (This bright vision of the future is already at the starting line. Monsanto and BASF have joined forces and got together with other bodies of expertise to launch a major research programme aimed at developing ways of increasing the number of modified genes that can be inserted into crops. The first such product is expected to be commercialised within 10 years.)
- farmers will play a key role in encouraging acceptance.
OUR COMMENT
You might question how realistic this vision is.
Acceptance?
The EU has never managed yet to agree on any GM crop approval, while 'GM-free zone' declarations continue to expand, and consumer rejection is not waning. When the new EU regulations kick in fully, the disagreements could get worse.
Some of the 'edging' is definitely in a backwards direction. Germany has effectively banned imports of Monsanto's MON 810 GM maize by demanding environmental monitoring of its effects; France seems set to follow suit.
Chemicals?
In the wake of increasing glyphosate-resistance in weeds (now reported by 24% of farmers in the North Midwest, 29% in the South, and also emerging Argentina, Brazil and Australia), the immediate future seems to hold a whole new range of GM crop varieties resistant to a different herbicide, 'dicamba'. Add to this that all GM crops are derived from successful varieties bred specifically for large-scale production, and dependent on chemical fertilisers. There's no sign here of any room for a reduction in agricultural chemicals.
Gene-stacking?
The practicalities of gene-stacking may make this venture a commercial non-event: engineered constructs present an energy drain which weakens the organism; stacked genes will cause exponential disruption to the genome, and consequently to the plants' physiology.
Farmers?
Acceptance of GM crops by farmers? Indian University scientists accuse the biotech companies of making their business by exploiting the farmers, but at some point the farmers will learn. In Europe, farmers will not accept GM crops unless their customers accept them. That's YOU. Make sure it never happens.
SOURCES:
- Food Navigator USA 31.05.07
- Maywa Montenegro Grist Magazine 31.05.07
- Centre for Sustainable Agriculture 30.05.07