First GMO Wheat for the US

USDA has deregulated HB4 wheat, which means that a new drought tolerant variety wheat can now be brought to market. Peter Laudeman, US Wheat Associates, director of trade policy.

“This is a technology that US wheat associates and has been supportive of for a long time through our kind of joint wheat industry principles for commercialization, which is a really big mouthful to just say, Hey, we're supportive of science based technologies. These are kind of some of the parameters and guidelines that we want to see to make sure it's stewarded and brought to market in the right way. But this is kind of one big step in the process, as we still look at probably a minimum of three to five plus years before you'd see an actual commercial product. But nonetheless, the regulatory process is a really important part of the journey, and excited to see it.”

Laudemen says, now that the company has got the approval, Bioceres will have to work towards bringing the drought tolerant germ plasm to the United States and get it through to the market channels. In addition, Bioceres will have to work with other countries in order to get them to accept the GMO wheat. You need to look at our key export markets, like if a US grower is going to grow this that it has an export channel to go to as well, especially for a crop like wheat that's so dependent on exports, with about half of what we grow in a given year going to those those export customers. That's a conversation we've had already with Bioceres, and have had on an ongoing basis as we work closely with them. They know that that's part of our principles for commercialization that I mentioned.”

Peter Laudemen with US Wheat Associates.