The Biggest Challenge Of All

It could be described as the last frontier of biotech farming. After tackling a host of other plants, geneticists are concentrating on the most challenging crop of all: wheat, the most ancient of cultivated crops, with a genome five times that of its human counterpart.

It’s as contentious an issue as it is challenging. Many farmers, for example, are concerned they won't be able to export transgenic wheat. More than half of the spring wheat grown in the United States is exported, and about 47 percent of those exports are now going to countries that have said they won't accept genetically modified wheat, according to the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies at North Dakota State University.

On the other hand, supporters --- the most optimistic ones, at least --- foresee this as the last major obstacle in the way of worldwide adoption of transgenic crops.

"For the non-GM people this is their last fight on a major crop," said Harold Trick, a wheat researcher and assistant professor at Kansas State University. "If this fails, it will be hard for them to come back from that."

Posted by Jim Langcuster at February 24, 2004 09:31 AM | TrackBack