John Cowan

 

 

Biotech wheat is still many years away from being introduced to the market according to the head of Hyland Seed. However, John Cowan says he's encouraged by growing talk about adding traits to wheat.

"At least we're starting to talk about biotechnology and adding traits to wheat," says Cowan. "I'm not sure the traits will necessarily come through biotech. I think we'll see more traits come through traditional breeding methods."

"It's still a long ways away so I don't want to panic anyone. We're not going to see it in the next two years," he says.

Is the market capable of keeping GM wheat segregated? Cowan says the industry has shown it can maintain segregation with other crops. "I think anytime you can segregate a market, you add an opportunity to make money in that market. If you use soybeans for example, we have genetically modified soybeans, but we still have a large soybean production in Canada of non-GMO where a premium is paid to the grower."

Last year, nine grower groups from Canada, the U.S. and Australia, including the Grain Growers of Canada and the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, signed an accord calling for the introduction of genetically modified wheat.

The Canadian Wheat Board has said it won't support genetically modified wheat until it can be assured that overseas markets would accept the crop.

Monsanto and BASF announced a deal earlier this year to work together on bringing a potential biotech wheat variety to market at least 10 years from now.

~ Monday, October 25, 2010 ~