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Biotechnology company Bioceres plans to increase production of its genetically modified (GM) wheat HB4 in Argentina, with greater resistance to drought, the company's executive president said on Tuesday, after a major approval in Brazil and in the midst of a drought which is causing losses in the region.
In an interview with Reuters, Federico Trucco also said he hopes that HB4 wheat could eventually help expand the planting area of around 50% in Brazil, where around 3 million hectares of wheat are sown, mostly in the states of Rio. Grande do Sul and Paraná.
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The executive stated that the company will begin marketing HB4 wheat in Argentina this year, although it will mainly focus on working with “seed multipliers” to increase seed reserves.
“In this first year it will probably only be the multipliers that will be able to scale, there may be some grants available for producers who want to test the technology,” said Trucco, adding that Bioceres “will continue to act as buyer of last resort so that there is no commercial risk.”
The plans come after Brazil approved the planting and import of HB4 wheat, while tests last year in Argentina, where a severe drought has been damaging the agricultural sector since last year, showed that HB4 yields could exceed those by up to 40%. of wheat without genetic modifications under dry conditions.
Trucco explained that “twin” wheat varieties were used in the tests, “the same in all genes, except for the presence or absence of the HB4 (gene).
“We made (comparisons) in 20 different places in Argentina, comparing twins, and then the difference is unequivocal because there is not a single case in which the twin that has HB4 has a lower performance than the one that does not have it,” he said.
Bioceres, however, still has a long way to go despite approvals and growing consumer acceptance. Brazil, an important global food producer, is the main importer of Argentine wheat.
On Tuesday, an expert from Embrapa, Brazil's agricultural research agency, said the country will expand testing of HB4 wheat, although it will take about four years to test the variety's adaptability to tropical conditions, and more seeds will be needed. for large-scale testing.
In the last harvest in Argentina – where cereal sowing begins in May –, around 6.1 million hectares were sown with wheat, which produced 12.4 million tons, compared to 22.4 million in the previous season, due to the impact drought, according to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange.
In addition to Brazil, Bioceres' HB4 wheat obtained authorization from countries such as Australia and New Zealand, which authorized the consumption of food containing the product, and from densely populated Nigeria, where the entry of the transgenic grain is permitted.
Trucco highlighted that, after obtaining approval from the North American FDA, he is awaiting the opinion of his presentation to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to allow the sowing of the grain in the country.
“We have had a very active dialogue with US Wheat Associates… we are working with some US universities that have germplasm for the area of interest to us, which is primarily the Great Plains,” the Midwestern United States, Trucco explained. .
Source: Reuters | Notícias Agrícolas
