03/20 21:34 U.S. farm group says producers need to know GMO risks
SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 (Reuters) - U.S. farmers need to know
that if they choose to plant genetically modified crops, they run the risk
of not being able to market their product to foreign customers, a panel
of grain buyers said Saturday. Delegates at the National Grain and
Feed Association conference said in a climate where genetically
modified crops face intense opposition from U.S. trading partners,
especially in the European Union, farmers need to know more about
the crops they are planting.
GMO crops have been the subject of intense debate in Europe,
where the crops, which are genetically-modified to fight disease and
improve the commodity in other ways, are viewed as a danger to
public health.
The United States, however, has approved many varieties of GMO
crops made by companies including Monsanto <MTC.N>, DeKalb
<DKB.N> and AgrEvo, and has sharply criticized the European Union
for dragging its feet in approving the GMO crops. The U.S. Agriculture
Department has expressed frustration, saying the EU has not been
basing its decisions on sound science, but instead on politics.
U.S. farmers have been quick to embrace GMO crops. Approximately
40 percent of the 1999 U.S. corn crop is expected to be planted with
genetically modified seed.
But grain buyers at the conference expressed concern that farmers
do not know that the crops they are growing face intense opposition,
which puts the buyers in a bind when it comes time to try to sell the
products abroad. One elevator operator said he has had foreign
purchasers reject his product because he would not certify that none
of the sale included GMO commodities.
At this point, most grain buyers do not test the commodities they
purchase to determine if they are GMO products, but if opposition
intensifies, they may be forced to do just that, company officials said.
The delegates voted at their annual meeting to distribute information
to farmers about the GMO issue in order to educate the producers
about the potential marketability problems of the crops. A
representative from the National Corn Growers Association said his
group plans to create a web page that will list all of the types of GMO
corn farmers can buy and which countries still forbid the importation of
the products to help farmers in their planting decisions.
Many representatives at the conference expressed concern that more
and more U.S. producers will plant GMO crops while the backlog of
GMO applications at the EU expands. Most said they expect the EU
will not approve any GMO varieties in 1999.
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