Washington Insider -- Monday

New Wrinkle in Genetic Modification Wars

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Congressional Democrats Continue Anti-TPP Campaign

On the eve of President Obama's planned trip to Asia, congressional Democrats are stepping up their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal currently under discussion among 12 Pacific Rim nations. Obama leaves for Asia Wednesday, with his first stop being Japan. The president also will travel to South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.

However, back in Washington, some Democratic members of Congress noted lingering and serious concerns about the TPP and that the fast-track authority (Trade Promotion Authority) that would be needed to ratify a deal.

"It's a bit odd for the president to push for TPP in Japan when he's not gotten fast-track negotiating authority from the Congress," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said last week during a press conference call. Joined by Democratic Reps. Louise Slaughter of New York and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, DeLauro said TPP negotiators are grappling with "many seemingly intractable problems including on intellectual property rights and market access issues among them."

Labor unions and environmental groups are vocal critics of TPP and since they also are key components of the Democratic Party's base, it is unlikely that U.S. participation in the talks will receive much Democratic support between now and the November elections.

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China Rejects $2.9 Billion Worth of U.S. Corn: NGFA

The National Feed and Grain Association claims in a new report that the U.S. agricultural sector has lost as much as $2.9 billion because China continues to reject shipments of U.S. corn due to the presence of a genetically engineered variety that Chana has not approved. NGFA puts the direct losses from the rejections at $1 billion, which another $1.14 billion in indirect losses to U.S. corn producers due to lower market prices for corn. NGFA says farmer losses have amounted to 11 cents per bushel so far in the 2013-14 marketing year.

China has rejected shipments totaling 1.45 million tonnes since mid-November, NGFA said, with the shipments diverted to other buyers that "most assuredly would have negotiated a discount."

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At issue is a biotech corn variety marketed by Syngenta that has not yet gained regulatory approval in China. Further, NGFA noted that this spring's planned release of the Agrisure Duracade variety, also by Syngenta, could result in losses of $1.2 billion to $3.4 billion for 2014-15. Farm groups reportedly have lobbied Syngenta to stop selling the two varieties that China has not approved, but so far the company has demurred.

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Washington Insider: New Wrinkle in Genetic Modification Wars

The folks who are caught up in the fight against biotech have always had a really tough time separating their implicit approval of traditional genetic modification by selection, and the more modern GMO systems that can target key genes and insert or delete them using laboratory methods.

Now such distinctions are getting even tougher. Recent reports describe a new generation of plant breeding technology that builds on the old selection processes — physical selection of plants with desirable characteristics, using modern "genetic aids." Instead of spending decades eyeballing plants to find those with better yields, quality, drought resistance, or other characteristics, breeders are increasingly able to speed the process through DNA screening.

This technology, as described by the Washington Post last week, allows technicians to take tissue samples from week-old tomato seedling to identify genetic markers for desired traits. This allows them to keep only a few of the initial seedlings to be grown out and tested for performance. "I'm improving my odds," a producer told the Post. "Maybe I can introduce to market a real super-hybrid in five years," he said, "A predecessor might take a whole career."

The technology — called marker-assisted or molecular breeding — is far removed from the better-known and more controversial field of genetic engineering, in which a plant or animal can receive genes from many sources, even a different organism.

By contrast, marker-assisted breeding evaluates the inherent genetic potential of an individual plant to allow breeders to find the most promising seedlings. Because the plant's natural genetic boundaries are not crossed, the resulting hybrid is spared both the costly regulatory examination required for GMOs along with the public opposition often focused on the new plants.

Still, there are critics — mainly opponents of Big Ag who say the new process handicaps small-scale farmers and breeders, as well as organic producers, although it is not easy to see why organic producers would fight the new approach. The Post article concludes that few observers expect such criticism will deter use of a technology that has already yielded significant results.

One of the earliest validations came in 2009 with the introduction of a rice variety in India that survives complete submersion from monsoons. Once the genetic markers of the trait were identified, the variety was developed in just three years by scientists at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

The key was to create rice that looked and performed like the existing one favored by Indian farmers — so that it would be accepted — but with the flood-tolerant gene. The organization has since released more than 10 additional monsoon-resistant varieties to flood-prone areas of India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Marker-assisted breeding won't bring an end to GMOs, scientists say, because that can achieve highly specific tasks now unobtainable through even marker-assisted breeding. But given the obstacles GMOs face — perhaps $100 million to create one variety, at least 10 years for regulatory approval and potential widespread public opposition — marker-assisted breeding has become increasingly alluring.

"In many ways, the company has gone beyond" genetic engineering, said Robert Fraley, Monsanto's chief scientist. "The breeding technology has changed dramatically in the last few years." It is attractive because it is a powerful tool to assemble an array of desirable traits in a plant. A GMO plant, by contrast, has been engineered for a specific task — such as containing a bacterium that would kill a certain pest, he said.

Marker assisted genetics has been around for more than two decades but has become much easier and less expensive to use in the past few years. Now, precision-bred cucumbers, peppers and other vegetables are showing up in supermarkets, although the unlabeled and brandless nature of most produce makes it difficult to distinguish them, according to Carly Scaduto, a spokeswoman for Monsanto.

For plants with larger seeds, breeders can clip off a piece of the seed and test its DNA without waiting for it to grow into a seedling. Chippers are being developed for corn, soy, cotton and wheat, whose seeds are relatively large and easier to chip than, say, those of a tomato or lettuce. However, breeders still must grow out selections and evaluate them, and prospective hybrids are typically field-tested in farms in different regions and climates before final commercial introduction.

Now, chippers are expected to take advanced breeding to the next level. "If you are looking at [breeding for] five, six, seven traits, you would have to sow about a million plants," experts say. With seed chipping, "space is no longer a limitation."

Even so, the high-tech breeders rely on many familiar geneticist rituals. They must still take the pollen from one plant and fertilize another, and grow out candidates in the field and see how they look, taste and feel. They still select the parents and the crosses of their offspring. And, they must still walk the fields around their research farms and see if the genetic soothsayers were right.

Still, observers note that it is almost certainly premature to suggest that marker-assisted genetic technologies will end the GMO wars, which never were based on rational concerns about health or nutrition in the first place. Many consumer advocates have found it extremely profitable to warn against undefinable threats and can be expected to continue to do so. At the same time, technology advocates seem increasingly confident that they have a new weapon to use to strengthen consumer confidence, Washington Insider believes.


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