Print This PageFrequently Asked Questions about Monsanto and Wheat
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What Monsanto wheat products will initially be made available to farmers?
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Do any other seed companies sell or do research in biotech wheat?
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Where can I find more information about the wheat industry’s position on biotechnology?
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What benefits will wheat technologies – breeding or biotechnology – provide to farmers or consumers?
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Why did the company exit its wheat biotech research in 2004?
Q: What Monsanto wheat products will initially be made available to farmers?
A: WestBred will continue to sell and market its wheat genetics lineup as it does today.
Over the next several years, researchers at both companies will apply Monsanto’s expertise in conventional and marker-assisted breeding tools to develop better-yielding varieties using WestBred’s germplasm as a foundation. Together, we’ll explore ways breeding can help protect wheat plants from yield-robbing factors such as insects, disease and weather. Additionally, we will seek to improve winter hardiness.
Longer term, these seeds will also serve as the foundation for the development of new biotechnology traits. This includes technologies that can boost yield on-farm, reduce the limiting effects of drought on-farm and more efficiently use nitrogen.
Q: When does the company anticipate its biotech wheat products will be made available for farmers to plant?
A: Consistent with the development timelines we’ve seen with the other biotech traits we’ve developed, we do not anticipate a biotech wheat product to emerge from our R&D pipeline for at least 8 to 10 years. This 8 to 10 year timetable is the period it typically takes to thoroughly test the technology, as well as complete the necessary safety and agronomic tests prior to commercializing the product.
As we work to discover and develop wheat technologies, Monsanto remains committed to an ongoing dialogue with the wheat industry and farmers to support the successful introduction of new technologies in this crop space. We also remain committed to following the wheat industry’s approach to introducing any commercial biotech variety.
As we develop these products, we also remain committed to our practice of obtaining regulatory approvals from key global import countries prior to commercialization. We believe this is an important part of supporting our farmer customers and their access to markets for their crops.
Q: Do any other seed companies sell or do research in biotech wheat?
A: Yes. A number of other public and private parties have invested or are currently investing in biotechnology projects for this crop, some of which include: Arcadia Biosciences, BASF, CSIRO, Dow AgroSciences, Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre (MPB), NemGenix Pty Ltd., Syngenta and Victorian Department of Primary Industries.
Q: Where can I find more information about the wheat industry’s position on biotechnology?
A: In recent years, there has been growing acceptance about the need for technology investment in wheat in order to meet future demands. Earlier this year, wheat organizations in the United States, Canada and Australia outlined their support for more efficient, sustainable and profitable production of wheat around the world – including their thoughts on the commercialization of biotechnology in wheat.
Q: What benefits will wheat technologies – breeding or biotechnology – provide to farmers or consumers?
A: Given the geographies where wheat is grown, it is particularly challenged by the core issues of water availability, fertilizer efficiency and shrinking acres, and we believe we have the technology tools today to help wheat growers meaningfully address these challenges. By using approaches to more meaningfully address these challenges – whether that can be achieved through breeding or biotechnology – we believe wheat farmers can someday benefit through higher-yielding technologies that may contribute to a consistent supply, which, in turn, could also help stabilize prices for wheat buyers and consumers.
We also believe investments in breeding and biotechnology are just one of the key tools to helping wheat researchers provide output traits that could someday deliver benefits all along the food supply chain including to millers, bakers and consumers alike.
Q: To date, many achievements in wheat breeding have been made by public institutions, without the need for genetic engineering. Why can’t the desired traits – like drought or stress tolerance or improved-yield traits – simply be achieved through conventional breeding?
A: No matter where wheat is farmed in the world, the crop is routinely challenged by a number of agronomic and environmental factors. Some of these factors include insects, disease and weather. We believe breeding can play a key role in meeting some of these challenges.
Plant breeding programs are typically structured to test new products over a number of locations and years before the product is ultimately commercialized for farmers. This testing regime enables plant breeders to select for a number of various stresses including drought, and to select for increased yield. Conventional selection for these types of traits is very difficult because of the genetic complexity presented by these types of traits.
As a result, some of these factors may only be addressed and/or could be addressed more comprehensively through plant biotechnology. Today, biotechnology is commonly used to significantly accelerate the progress plant breeders are able to achieve by identifying, enhancing and deploying key genes addressing these productivity issues.
Example: European Corn Borer – Breeding and Biotechnology
One example of the application of both breeding and biotechnology can be found in corn research.
For years, plant breeders and researchers worked to combat a devastating insect that limited the harvestable output of corn on-farm. The insect, called the European Corn Borer, bores its way into a corn stalk and carves out the middle of the stalk, severely damaging the plant. The insect damage results in lower grain yields and/or in the corn plant falling to the ground, making the grain difficult to harvest.Farmers and plant breeders tried to combat this pest with control methods such as plant breeding and insecticide applications. Plant breeders were never able to deliver a breeding approach that could consistently deploy resistance to this insect across a broad range of hybrids in order to thoroughly combat the pest or stop it from ruining corn yields, season after season.
Insecticide sprays were also routinely applied to control this pest. However, to be effective, insecticides must come in contact with the corn borer. One drawback of this approach was the insect was often able to bore inside the plant before or after the insecticide application, resulting in marginal control of the pest and corn yield losses.
Ultimately, plant biotechnology research proved to be the best on-farm approach to combating the pest. The technology, also known as Bt corn, provided farmers with an in-seed and in-plant approach to combating the insect and protecting their harvest. Today, farmers around the world use the Bt corn technology to protect on-farm yields on more than 22 million hectares, or more than 50 million acres, annually.
Q: Does the company expect wheat farmers will still be allowed to save their seed, or will they now be required to purchase new seed each season?
A: We do not expect our investment will change any of the approaches currently in place across the wheat seed industry.
Today, a number of varieties can be saved on an annual basis. Likewise, a number of commercially available wheat varieties are also protected by public and private developers through the Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) and patents, and can only be used to plant one crop.
WestBred sells its seed as certified seed and also uses both the Plant Variety Protection (PVPA) as well as patents to support its breeding innovations. A wheat farmer’s investment in WestBred varieties helps to return dollars back to the company which, in turn, invests those dollars into further research for the farm.
A recent article in the Salina Journal profiled steps Kansas State University was taking to raise awareness about the importance of the PVPA. Oklahoma State University also has posted a video discussing the importance of the PVPA and its role in seed varieties. DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred division also posts information on patent protection of its wheat varieties on its web site.
Q: Why did the company exit its wheat biotech research in 2004?
A: Monsanto exited the wheat business in 2004 due to the dramatic decline of planted spring wheat acreage as well as, in large part, due to a lack of industry alignment for the company’s technology being applied to wheat. At that time, we decided to defer efforts to develop Roundup Ready® wheat in order to focus on and accelerate the development of new and improved traits in corn, cotton and oilseeds. This was a business decision based on the economics of bringing this particular product to market at that time relative to alternative investments that were more attractive.
