Agricultural News
Oklahoma Wheat Grower Leaders Meet with Monsanto- Talking Genetically Modified Wheat
Tue, 30 Mar 2010 5:21:33 CDT
Officials with the Monsanto Company were at the State Capitol last week on Ag Day and met with leaders from the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association and the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. The topic was the brave new world of genetically modified wheat, as Monsanto was wanting to gather input from the wheat growers regarding their hopes for GM wheat, as well as to calm any concerns that have taken root since the announcement last summer that Monsanto had purchased Westbred and thus acquired a large amount of wheat germplasm in that acquisition. A lot of that germplasm has been developed by land grant schools, including Oklahoma State University, and there was talk about what intellectual rights the universities can retain, and what Monsanto can claim for their own.
According to Don Schieber, current Chairman of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission and also the Vice Chairman of US Wheat Associates, the discussion was healthy and he suspects that the company will have a lot of these behind closed door meetings with growers in the months ahead as they try to sort through all the questions and issues that have to be dealt with. We have our full conversation with Don Schieber here at the bottom of this story- click on the Listen Bar to hear our Q&A.
Schieber believes that some of the big issues still to be dealt with include which class of wheat will Monsanto start with in developing a trait or traits for wheat, how will they multiply the seed to get enough supply for the market and how they will price the technology, especially in the southern plains where farmers will often decide the economics don't justify harvesting for grain, so they graze out many fields with stocker cattle.
Monsanto officials that were talking with the Oklahoma wheat producers included Monsanto Agronomist Michael Marlow, as well as Duane Simpson, Regional Director for Monsanto in their State and Local Government Affairs Office in their St Louis headquarters.
Click here for a story from last summer about the purchase by Monsanto of Westbred- and notice there are several other stories on this subject linked under the main story.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
