Australia, Canada and U.S. groups reconfirm commitment to innovation and biotechnology in wheat

Date:06-06-2014

Sixteen organizations in Australia, Canada and the United States representing producers and millers publicly confirmed support for innovation in wheat, including the future commercialization of biotechnology.

The statement comes five years after an original document was signed.

This new pledge welcomes the addition of broad-based groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union to a wide coalition of wheat organizations in three countries.

The statement calls for further innovation in research as wheat represents 20 percent of human calorie intake, making it an essential part of the global diet and critical to food security. As demand increases, wheat supplies must remain abundant while meeting the highest quality and nutrition standards. Advancing breeding and biotechnology will help protect the continued availability of wheat foods.

The statement encourages the governments of wheat producing and importing countries to maintain sound, science-based regulatory systems as well as to adopt reasonable low-level presence policies to minimize trade disruptions.