Bakers starting to see folly of rejecting biotechnology
I found the following commentary in AgriMarketing Magazine on the growing acceptance of biotechnology in the baking industry. The author notes that a few years ago there was a lot of resistance for genetically modified wheat because bakers and millers believed that genetic engineering only benefited the farmer. However now, with more and more farmers switching to GM corn and/or soybeans and away from the less profitable wheat crop, bakers and millers are seeing prices rise and are starting to realize the importance of the technology.
C.S. Prakash
Bakers starting to see folly of rejecting biotechnology
AgriMarketing
February 28, 2008
OpEd written By PAUL AASNESS, who farms near Fergus Falls, MN, is a board member of Growers for Biotechnology (www.growersforbiotechnology.org)
Despite the fact that most wheat farmers have welcomed the advent of biotechnology, end users have not been so supportive.
The end user, especially millers and bakers, argued that the advantages gained with biotechnology were for the growers' benefit only. They made it clear that they were not interested in purchasing commodities that were genetically modified -- especially wheat.
It seems now, however, that the tide may be turning. The milling and baking industry is suddenly realizing that the sky-high cost and critically short supply of wheat is directly related to the absence of efficient technologies in wheat.
Farmers, including myself, have seen huge advantages in growing biotech corn and soybeans. Many of us have reduced our wheat acres steadily in the past 10 years since biotech corn and soybeans became available. Control of pests such as corn borer and corn rootworm and superior weed control with Roundup Ready corn and soybeans have been welcomed with open arms wherever they have been tried. Today, 73 percent of the corn and 91 percent of the soybean acres in the United States have one or more biotech traits. All this has taken place in a little over 10 years since biotech seeds were first available to us. It's hard to justify fighting to produce wheat when it's much more efficient and profitable to produce a biotech crop.
