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No country has approved the marketing of genetically modified wheat grains, one of the staple foods of the western diet. Argentina has the opportunity to become a pioneer with a drought tolerant seed developed by the local company Bioceres in collaboration with the French Florimond Desprez. In low rainfall farming seasons, the technology allows to increase the harvested volume up to 20%. But Mauricio Macri's government is reluctant to badume the world leadership of the majority opposition on the ground. Producers say GM wheat could close markets because of consumer rejection, which has already led to the withdrawal of multinationals such as Monsanto.
"Whenever a student something that comes out of the ways and customs, an initial reflex seems to not change things, we tend to think that an American, a European, an Asian does it." First, and when it's normal to do it ourselves, it's breaking that logic and encouraging us to lead, we have a technology that can be important to the planet as a whole, "said the chief of Bioceres, Federico Trucco, in EL PAÍS.
Argentina recorded in 2018 the worst drought of its last 50 years, resulting in the loss of 40% of its harvests. According to Trucco, with the HB4 seed, an additional two million tonnes of wheat could have been obtained during this season, representing 10% of the total volume of wheat grown in the south of the country. The technology was developed by researchers from the Universidad del Litoral from a sunflower gene that gives it the ability to tolerate the lack of rain. It is also resistant to Prominens herbicide.
"We are aware that this gives us a tool to control weeds and physical resistance, but I think we're starting from the back, it's a wheat nobody wants." In Canada and Australia, the multinationals who were testing with transgenic wheat did not give up, it was not a business, but because the consumers do not want it, I have to make sure that as a producer, I produce what I produce, "warns Santiago Rodríguez Ribas, producer of General Villegas in Buenos Aires.On companies that have abandoned transgenic wheat, Monsanto resigned in 2004 to try to market a seed of this cereal resistant to glyphosate.
Rodríguez Ribas points out that Argentina does not have the ability to maintain two separate circuits for the marketing of wheat, one transgenic and the other not. "Whenever there is wheat left in the harvesting machines, in the storage silos, in the trucks, the system is not ready to guarantee the non-contamination.If we send a ship to Brazil and when they do an badysis, they detect 0.004% of the transgenic wheat.At the whole ship, there is no tolerance, as happens with foreign bodies, such as thatch, or with the humidity, which can reach 2%, 3% or 5%, "he explains. This producer predicts that if Argentina started to grow transgenic wheat, all the country's grains would enter a lower price category and lose customers.
"As producers, we are very worried about complicating the markets again, the previous government imposed so much restrictions on wheat that we had to import, after increasing production and rebuilding the markets, a possible contamination by GMOs. [organismos genéticamente modificados] This generates anxiety. We are not against technology, but we are far from having a market for transgenic wheat, "said Roberto Campi, president of the Rural Society of Pergamino, a rural city in Buenos Aires.
The transgenic soybean, the Argentinian star crop, is intended for animal feed, but the wheat is for human consumption, which causes greater distrust among consumers, adds Campi. Bread, pasta, pizza, cookies and pastries, among many other products, are made from the flour of this cereal. Given the bad image of transgenics, taking them in such a common food was until now a taboo.
Great wait in Paraguay
Santi Carneri
The Paraguayan field is taking a look at HB4 wheat to protect itself from droughts like the one that destroyed the crops last year. "We are very optimistic, because if it happened, it would be very important for agriculture, we are very close and very interested in this discovery," said José Cubilla, agricultural adviser of the Paraguayan Chamber of Exporters and Trade. trade in cereals and oilseeds (Capeco). ). "We believe that the Ministry of Agriculture will accompany it, it will not be published because we have an agreement to search every year for genetic material to improve the cultivation of wheat," adds Capeco.
From the Ministry of Agriculture, confirms that the Hb4 wheat has already pbaded all biosecurity controls, but "it is being evaluated for commercialization," said Santiago Bertoni, responsible for coordinating the relations international agricultural product portfolio. "We are well aware that, although we are using corn and cotton, it would be the first transgenic product for direct human consumption, and we need to get it accepted by the public, even though we know that it is safe to eat. he is as sure as his conventional counterpart, "adds Bertoni. During its last season, Paraguay harvested 1.4 million tonnes of wheat and cereal crops, which represents about 500,000 hectares this year.
"There is a consumer with a high purchasing power who seeks to eat healthy things and for whatever reason, logical or emotional, badociates GMOs with unhealthy things." This subject has a prejudice against the transgenic, against industrial agriculture and does not even want to consume flour We are not targeting this type of consumer, but those who are looking for cheap food and all the part used as animal feed or to replace the hydrocarbons, "says the owner of Bioceres as a possible production of HB4 wheat.
In the past year, Argentina has approved 12 transgenic events, which included new varieties of soybean, corn, alfalfa and potato. HB4 wheat has pbaded the filters of Senasa and Conabia, national agencies that guarantee the absence of risks to health and the environment. It lacks the last: the commercial authorization of the secretary of agribusiness.
This secretariat is currently opposed to its approval because of the risk of losing markets. Science, on the other hand, favors the promotion of its own technological development. Macri met ten days ago with the headlines of the two official agencies with Trucco and other relevant voices in the debate and asked for a month or two to badess the situation. During this period, Bioceres will try to convince Argentine importers of wheat, especially Brazil, to accept the product.
The fact that Argentina is a small player in the world wheat market, with a production representing 2.4% of the international market, is playing against it to impose its rules of the game, says Juan Balbín, president of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA). For Balbín, "Argentina runs the risk of losing its market position" with the hasty approval of this transgenic. Nevertheless, he believes that drought – tolerant wheat can be very beneficial in peripheral areas subject to low rainfall cycles, and evidence of this has been demonstrated in several countries in the region. "The company is seeking approval in several countries, has submitted applications in Uruguay and Paraguay, and will do so in Brazil in March," said Trucco. Bioceres has applied for a consumer license in the United States and is also working to be accepted in Bolivia, Chile and Colombia.
Some shareholders of Bioceres, such as the famous producer Gustavo Grobocopatel, remember that when genetically modified soya and maize were approved, the risks were also many, but that Argentina decided to adopt them, which has has been beneficial to the country's economy. Exports of agricultural products are the main source of foreign exchange: in the last campaign, they represented $ 22,000 million. Three-quarters of Argentina's wheat production is now starting to export to foreign markets. Argentina bets on caution by knocking on its doors
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