Monsanto moving forward with new canola products and biotech wheat

Biotech wheat is still several years away, but the seed company Monsanto will be making some important decisions in the near future. Monsanto Regional Director for State Government Affairs Duane Simpson said the company is finishing with phase two of their first generation biotech wheat and they will decide soon when they will advance into phase three. He said this starts the work with regulatory approvals, which could take six to eight years.

Monsanto will also release two new products for canola farmers in the near future. TruFlex Roundup Ready canola allows farmers a broader window of application for Roundup. The second product is dicamba tolerant canola. Simpson said this will give farmers three different herbicides plus Roundup. This will give farmers multiple modes of action for weed control. He said this will help clean up fields, especially if farmers are seeing some issues with glyphosate resistant weeds. Simpson said these products are going through their final regulatory approvals.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have become a hot button issue for some consumers. With Monsanto continuing to develop new and more advanced seed lines, Simpson said Monsanto is doing a lot to improve the public perception and acceptance of GMOs by helping people understand GMO’s and the benefits of planting GMO’s.

Over the last several years, many states have considered various forms of legislation dealing with GMO labeling and each piece of legislation is different in regards to how products would be labeled. Simpson said these efforts have pushed Congress to consider a national standard.

“The food companies certainly can’t be expected to meet a patchwork of 50 different state laws,” Simpson said.

Whether you are taking about a regional company or a national company, Simpson said having different state regulations makes it difficult, if not impossible to sell and market food across state lines. So he believes the federal government will have step in and develop a national standard for labeling products containing GMOs.