This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English AgricultureReport.
Last week, the Monsanto company announced that it would not sellgenetically engineered wheat. The American company had beendeveloping a kind of wheat for use with one of its top products.That product is Roundup.
The chemicals in Roundup kill unwanted plants around crops. Butthe poison can kill crops, too. So farmers have to be careful.Monsanto has developed genetically engineered crops that can resistthe product. Such crops are called Roundup-ready. Monsanto hasalready developed Roundup-ready soybeans, cotton and corn.
The company says Roundup-ready wheat could have increasedharvests by five to fifteen percent. But Monsanto found that themarket is not ready for genetically engineered wheat. Monsanto saysit invested less than five-million dollars in wheat this year, orless than one percent of its research budget. It says it might tryagain in four to eight years.
Opposition to genetically engineered wheat came from outside andinside the United States. Japan, a major buyer of American wheat,opposed the new crop. Other big importers like the European Unionand South Korea did not welcome the idea either.
In the United States, many farmers who grow wheat for export didnot want a genetically engineered product. They said they fearedthat many export buyers would reject it. There were also fears thatthe new product would mix with other wheat.
The Monsanto decision pleased opponents of genetically engineeredcrops. Activists called it a victory for everyone.
But the company says it made the decision for business reasons.Monsanto says planting of spring wheat in the United States andCanada has fallen by twenty-five percent in the last seven years.Use of wheat is expected to remain near current levels for severalyears.
Products like genetically engineered soybeans, corn and cottonare already established in the market. But these crops are usedmostly for animal food and vegetable oils, or cloth. There isgreater opposition to the idea of genetically engineered foods likewheat, even though the industry says biotechnology is safe.
Monsanto, for example, engineered potatoes to resist insects. Butin two-thousand, the company faced resistance from McDonald’s andother fast-food sellers. They did not want to sell a product thatpeople might not want to buy.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by MarioRitter. This is Steve Ember.