Argentina-the world’s fourth-largest wheat exporter-is growing 55 thousand hectares of GMO wheat, which Brazil in turn has just authorized. (1) Experience with soybean, corn, and canola suggests care in tracing the genetic identity of consignments arriving from South America. Insight.
Trigall Genetics
Trigall Geneticsisthe joint venture formed in 2013 by Florimond Desprez-a French seed giant already sued for outlawed, large-scale release of GMO endive into the EU market (2)-and Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. (3)
Bioceres, a Nasdaq-listed Argentine Corporation (BIOX), provides a variety of crop productivity technologies in the perspective of agriculture’s transition to carbon neutrality. (4) Mycorrhizae and biotechnology, but also agrochemicals.
HB4® wheat
The GMO wheat under consideration was developed by Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. after 18 years of collaboration with the public sector through the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet) and a research group at theInstituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral. With the aim of increasing the plant’s resistance to drought and salinity in soils.
The HB4® variety was modified by insertion of the HB4 gene, isolated from the sunflower. The biologist who coordinated the work, Raquel Chan, points to the possibility of applying this technique to other crops as well. In fact, the HB4 gene has already been inserted in a GMO soybean variety, approved in Argentina in 2015, in the US in 2017, and in Paraguay in 2019.
GMO wheat, green light in Argentina and Brazil
Argentina is the first country in the world to have approved the deliberate release of GMO wheat into the environment, 14.10.20 (5,6). This is mind-blowing news-because it concerns the most famous cereal and one of its earliest producing countries-that nevertheless, curiously, has not crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Beyond a few scientific publications. (7)
Brazil-where 45 percent of Argentina’s wheat exports are destined-has in turn approved the release of transgenic HB4 wheat for human consumption. The news was reported a few hours ago by Reuters, 11.11.21, following a meeting of Brazil’s National Biosafety Technical Commission. (8)
Perspectives and risks. Resistance to glufosinate ammonium
Argentine Agriculture Minister Julian Domínguez, predictably, celebrates the political achievement in Brazil. HB4® wheat is presented as capable of increasing yields significantly, 20-25%, under water stress conditions. It can thus be prospected as ‘the solution at the right time,’ in the midst of a global wheat crisis attributed precisely to drought. (9)
However, no one reports, except for a mention in the latest Reuters release, on HB4® wheat’s resistance to ammonium glufosinate, a reproductively toxic herbicide whose use in agriculture has been banned in the EU since 2018. (10) Thus, the ‘solution’ may prove fallacious to the extent that this GMO, like almost all others, is instrumental in the use of broad-spectrum venomous herbicides. (11)
Reactions in the supply chain
Abitrigo, the Brazilian milling industry association, through its association, said it will seek a review of the authorization for the use of HB4® wheat.
U.S. Wheat Associates
, the organization that promotes U.S. wheat exports, has yet to comment. He had previously stated that he would support GMO wheat after its approval in major markets and the regulation of cross contamination between conventional and biotech wheat.
Interim conclusions
Brazilian industrialists obviously fear consumer resistance to GMO pasta, bread and baked goods. Until, at least, the phenomenon can be presented as inescapable. Wheat market futures last week reached a 9-year high in the U.S., 13-year high in Europe. And inflation runs everywhere, hand in hand with poverty.
LMIC countries(Low-Medium Income Countries) may be the first to receive and accept GM wheat, it is said to have ended up in Africa from the 6,000 hectares already planted in HB4® last season. Some of the wheat may have been destined for feed. And accidental contamination between fazendas, transports and mills will do the rest.
Italian operators wishing to prevent the risks associated with this phenomenon should seriously consider working on supply chain contracts to ensure greater availability of domestic wheat, possibly organic or at least free of pesticide residues, pesticides and other agrochemicals. (12) And ensure the traceability of their products through public blockchain systems. (13)
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Fernando Bertello. Brasil aprobó el trigo transgénico desarrollado por la argentina Bioceres. La Nacion (ARG). 11.11.21, https://www.lanacion.com.ar/economia/campo/brasil-aprobo-el-trigo-transgenico-desarrollado-por-la-argentina-bioceres-nid11112021/
(2) Dario Dongo. GMO endive, the complaint of French farmers. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.1.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/indivia-ogm-la-denuncia-dei-contadini-francesi
(3) Florimond Desprez and Bioceres created the TRIGALL Genetics company. Florimond Desprez, press release. 7.5.13, https://www.florimond-desprez.com/rep/en/nl/presse/communiques-de-presse/florimond-desprez-et-bioceres-creent-la-societe-trigall-genetics-3.html
(4) Total comparable revenues US$ 64.8 million (up 54% from previous year), 447 employees. V. Bioceres Crop Solutions Reports Fiscal First Quarter 2022 Financial and Operational Results. Business wire. 10.11.21, https://bwnews.pr/3kv2czz
(5) Maximilian Heath, Hugh Bronstein. Exclusive: Argentina first country to approve GMO wheat. Reuters. 7.10.20, https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN26T0C8
(6) Rosa Muñoz Lima. Trigo transgénico argentino: ¿para el pan nuestro de cada día? DW News, Argentina. 14.10.20, %C3%
(7) Argentina first to market with drought-resistant GM wheat . Nat Biotechnol 39, 652 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-00963-y
(8) Ana Mano, Hugh Bronstein. Brazil clears GMO wheat flour from Argentina in global first, but sales may be slow. Reuters. 11.11.21, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-clears-gmo-wheat-flour-argentina-global-first-sales-may-be-slow-2021-11-11/
(9) Dario Dongo. Wheat skyrockets, it’s a global crisis. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 10/15/21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/mercati/grano-alle-stelle-è-crisi-globale
(10) V. reg. EU) no. 540/2011, laying down implementing provisions for reg. EC 1107/2009 regarding the list of approved active substances. Consolidated text as of 1.11.21 on Europa Lex, https://bit.ly/3D9Zmrh
(11) Dario Dongo. GMO soybean resistant to dicamba and other poisons, green light from European Commission. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 7.10.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/sicurezza/soia-ogm-resistente-a-dicamba-e-altri-veleni-via-libera-dalla-commissione-europea
(12) Dario Dongo. Glyphosate-free, zero residues, values and rules. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 10.11.18, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/etichette/senza-glifosate-residui-zero-valori-e-regole
(13) Dario Dongo. Blockchain, the opportunities for the food and organic supply chain. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 1.11.20, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/innovazione/blockchain-le-opportunità-per-la-filiera-agroalimentare-e-quella-biologica
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
