GM Crop Patents Near End, U.S. Farmers Ask What Next?

The biotechnology industry should develop a format to handle the looming expiration of patents on the first wave of genetically modified (GM) crops, to avoid seed shortages or trade disruptions, the largest U.S. farm group said. “There just needs to be a way to deal with it,” Rosemarie Watkins of the six-million-member American Farm Bureau

Vilsack Seeks Biotech Compromise

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the largest U.S. farm group on Jan. 10 that farmers could see less government interference if they find a way for traditional and genetically modified crops to coexist. Farm groups and the biotechnology industry are skeptical of Vilsack’s “coexistence” proposal. He launched it last month at the same time the


South Africa Balks At Seed Company Consolidation

The derailment of DuPont’s intended acquisition of a top South African seed company – a deal that would have doubled DuPont’s African seed business – is emboldening activists opposed to creeping control by both DuPont and rival Monsanto of the lucrative emerging market. Citing unfair control in South Africa by the two dominant U.S. seed

China Proposes GMO Legislation

China’s National People’s Congress, or parliament, is proposing legislation on the management of genetically modified (GMO) food, the official Xinhua news agency said in a report seen Dec. 27. The legislation will cover the import and export of GMO food and production, development and research of GMO grains. China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection is preparing


One Million Petition EU To Halt GM Crop Approvals

Campaigners presented a petition of more than a million signatures to the EU executive on Dec. 9, demanding a halt to approvals of new genetically modified (GM) crops. The petition is seen as a test case for the “European citizen’s initiative,” introduced under the EU’s new constitutional treaty, which enables a million or more people

Letters – for Jan. 6, 2011

Veterinarians under control Please allow me to correct several comments in the story “Three ranchers face court over TB testing,” page 14 of the Nov. 25 issue of theManitoba Co-operatorregarding bovine tuberculosis (TB) testing and court cases. I, and several other of the ever-increasing number of producers who have experienced health problems in their herds


Anti-GE Crop Bill Survives But Not For Long

A n NDP bill that industry officials say could cripple the development of new genetically engineered crops in Canada has gained an extra bit of parliamentary life but seems destined to flame out early next year. The NDP caucus used parliamentary rules in early December to force almost a full day of debate, probably in

Brazil To Produce GMO-Free Soy Seed

World No. 2 soy grower Brazil has launched a program to produce more GMO-free seed as modified varieties marketed by multinational biotech firms are squeezing out the conventional type. The program will focus on Brazil’s top soy state, Mato Grosso, and comes in response to growers’ increasing difficulty in finding sufficient conventional soy seed to


EU Reviews GM Crop Assessment Rules

BRUSSELS/REUTERS The EU’s food-safety watchdog issued new guidelines Nov. 12 for assessing the environmental impacts of genetically modified (GM) plants, as part of a shakeup of the bloc’s GM crop approval system. The guidelines from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) set out new assessment procedures for biotech companies when submitting GM crops for EU

INRA Halts Research On Developing New GMO Varieties

Europe’s top farm researcher has abandoned work on developing new genetically modified crops (GMOs) due to widespread distrust and even hostility by European consumers. “We have no research on GMO innovation anymore, none,” Marion Guillou, president of the National Institute for Agronomical Research (INRA), told Reuters in an interview. INRA, which has more than 1,800