Brazil tests genetically modified wheat in face of global supply shortages

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The decision is the latest sign of growing international interest in drought-tolerant wheat as more extreme conditions associated with climate change increase the risk of global famine.

Brazil is testing a genetically modified wheat variety that can better cope with water shortages to boost domestic grain production at a time of global supply shortages.

The move is the latest sign of growing international interest in drought-tolerant wheat as more extreme conditions associated with climate change increase the risk of global famine.

An official at Embrapa, the government’s crop research agency, said they had teamed up with Argentina’s Bioceres, which has already developed a genetically modified wheat variety that can tolerate drought.

The country’s other two main crops, soybeans, and corn, are mostly grown with genetically modified seeds, but consumers have in the past opposed the use of the technology in wheat because it is consumed directly by humans and not used as animals feed.

NO PROBLEMS

Back in May of this year, a survey showed that more than 70% of consumers in Brazil do not want any restrictions associated with the consumption of genetically modified wheat. This data changes the perception of companies regarding the advisability of selling this product in Brazil.

The survey breaks a paradigm in Brazil that consumers in the South American country are against the consumption of genetically modified wheat, following its recent approval in Argentina.

Brazil is a net importer of wheat, most of which comes from its southern neighbor.

Last year, Brazil became the first country to allow imports of flour made from GMO wheat from Argentina, although immediate delivery was unlikely due to opposition from local millers. The survey, conducted by Indexsa in December, interviewed 3,135 people in 12 state capitals.

About 1,790 respondents said they knew what GM foods were, and 75.5% of them said they knew they had consumed GM products in the past.

About 1,345 people said they did not know about genetically modified foods. However, of those, 71.4% said they would consume GM foods if they received adequate information about the product.

In 2020, the Brazilian wheat industry association Abitrigo had said it was opposed to Brasilia’s approval of genetically modified wheat products because it would make imports of genetically modified products more expensive and affect prices in the domestic market. But these were different international circumstances.

GREEN LIGHT

Australia and New Zealand last month approved the sale and use of foods containing Bioceres’ HB4 wheat.

Brazilian testing of the crop has not yet been reported. Bioceres declined to comment.

Embrapa received approval from Brazilian biosafety agency CTNBio in March, the month the company began planting wheat in trial fields near Brasilia in the Cerrado region of central-western Brazil, where soybeans and corn are normally grown, Jorge Lemainski, head of wheat research at Embrapa, told Reuters.

Lemainski said the agency will present a report in August on how the genetically modified wheat has grown under observation in the Cerrado region.

Experimental planting began immediately after the invasion of Ukraine, one of the world’s major grain exporters, which sent wheat prices to record-high levels.

Brazil is a major exporter of soybeans worldwide, but a net importer of wheat. About 90% of the wheat produced in Brazil is grown in the south of the country, where conditions are wetter. Growing wheat in the north could increase the country’s wheat production.

The government of President Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of the country’s powerful agricultural sector, wants to reduce Brazil’s dependence on Argentine wheat imports and increase its own wheat exports.

Commercial cultivation of genetically modified wheat won’t happen for about four years, once the results of pilot crops and regulatory approvals are in place, Lemainski said.

“It’s one thing to do research, but it’s another to do extensive farming,” he said.

Previous attempts to develop GM wheat have been problematic.

Monsanto halted plans to develop the product in the United States in 2004 because importers rejected the grain and feared the test plants would enter the food chain.

Not all markets are equally receptive: Japan stopped buying wheat from Canada in 2018 after grain containing traces of GMOs was discovered in the province of Alberta.