On Sept. 23, the Argentine company that owns the technology signed a deal with the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation (CWRF) to commercialize the drought tolerant wheat in the U.S.

“The agreement combines Bioceres’ proprietary HB4 technology with CWRF’s leadership in U.S. wheat innovation to create a next generation wheat production system,” says a press release announcing the agreement.

“Bioceres will grant CWRF exclusive, sublicensable rights to the HB4 trait in the U.S. territory.”

Bioceres Crop Solutions was created in Argentina in 2019 to commercialize its HB4 trait for wheat and soybeans.

The transgenic wheat has a drought-tolerant gene that comes from sunflowers and is also tolerant of glufosinate.

Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay have approved the cultivation of HB4 wheat, says ISAAA.org. Other countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have authorized its use in food and feed products.

In August of 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the cultivation of HB4 wheat.

However, American farmers won’t be planting a GM wheat for a while, probably not until 2029, 2030 or later.

“Cultivation approval is different from commercialization,” says a post from Peter Laudeman, director of trade policy with the U.S. Wheat Associates.

Bioceres has to partner with U.S. breeding companies, do field trials and performance verification in U.S. wheat varieties, Laudeman said.

“And perhaps most importantly, export market approvals. This process is likely to take three to five years or more.”

That piece of the puzzle, export market approvals, is a major concern for a country such as Canada. In recent years, Canada has been the third largest exporter of wheat in the world, after Russia and the European Union.

As a result, Canada needs to move carefully on GM wheat.

“Market access is a critical factor for any of those new technologies and especially in Canada. We do have such a high export volume for wheat production that it’s something we’re carefully watching,” Krista Zuzak, director of crop protection and production at Cereals Canada, said last August.

As part of the deal between Bioceres and the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation, the HB4 trait will be made available to public and private wheat breeding programs in the U.S. through an open licensing model.

“This is an important milestone for the wheat industry and sets the stage for long-term innovation in this important crop,” said Brad Erker, executive director of the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation.

“We are proud to support open and inclusive access to HB4 technology and to lead U.S. stakeholder engagement to ensure its responsible rollout.”

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Beijing | Reuters—China has approved the safety of gene-edited wheat for the first time as Beijing cautiously moves forward with commercial growing of genetically modified food crops.

China has in the past year ramped up approvals of genetically modified (GM) corn and soybean seeds that are higher-yielding and resistant to insects and herbicide to secure its food security, but the uptake remains slow and cautious due to concerns about the impact to health and ecology.

Unlike genetic modification, which introduces foreign genes into a plant, gene editing alters existing genes to change or improve its performance and is viewed by some scientists as less risky than genetically modifying them.

China mostly imports GM crops such as corn and soybeans for animal feed and grows non-GM varieties for food consumption. Many Chinese consumers remain concerned about the safety of GM food crops.

The approval for the gene-edited disease-resistant wheat is seen as a milestone, as the ingredient – used to make pasta, noodles and bread – is predominantly grown in China for food consumption. China is the world’s largest wheat producer and consumer.

“It is a big step, we can see the light for China to open up approvals for other food crops,” said a seed industry executive.

Beijing is also expected to pass new rules this year for the labelling of genetically modified crops used in food products, state media reported in March.

The agriculture ministry on Wednesday also approved a new variety of genetically modified corn with herbicide and insect-resistant traits, as well as one gene-edited corn variety that is higher yielding.

The GM corn approval includes a variety by Origin Agritech 

The safety certificates have been approved for five years from May 5, according to a document published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The world’s biggest buyer of soybeans and corn aims to raise domestic production through higher yielding seeds and cut its grains imports of more than 100 million metric tons a year.

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“This is the first approval in the world for drought-tolerant genetic transformation in wheat,” CONICET said in a statement.

Argentina is the world’s fourth-largest wheat exporter, and CONICET noted that the GM wheat will need to be approved in Brazil, Argentina’s largest market, before being considered commercially viable.

The drought-resistant HB4 wheat variety was developed by Bioceres, an Argentine biotech company, alongside the National University and CONICET.

“Approval of our HB4 wheat in Argentina represents a groundbreaking milestone for the entire global value chain of this important crop, given the substantial yield increases and significant environmental benefits that our technology offers,” Bioceres CEO Federico Trucco said in a release.

“Now we must go out into the world and convince people that this is super good and be able to generate markets for this wheat, which represents an evolutionary leap.”

Trucco admitted in news reports that winning approval from Brazil, the country’s key export market, could prove difficult. “The first country we have to convince is Brazil, and it may be hard work,” he said.

Numerous world experts have also expressed concern, given the fact that GM wheat has faced stiff resistance from both local and foreign consumers in the past.

HB4 wheat varieties have undergone field trials for the past decade. The trait is already approved for use in soybeans in a number of countries, including Brazil and the United States.

During trials, HB4 seed varieties increased wheat yields by 20 per cent, on average, during growing seasons impacted by droughts, according to Bioceres data.

The company noted the GMO trait would help mitigate production losses amid increased incidences of drought as climate change worsens. HB4 also facilitates double cropping of soybeans and wheat.

The deregulatory process for HB4 wheat has already started in the U.S., Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. Bioceres is also preparing presentations for Australia and Russia, as well as other countries in Asia and Africa.

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There was no evidence the wheat had entered the food supply, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a statement on Friday. The wheat is resistant to glyphosate, a widely used herbicide commonly referred to as Roundup.

“USDA is collaborating with our state, industry and trading partners, and we are committed to providing all our partners with timely and transparent information about our findings,” the statement said.

There are currently no commercially approved genetically modified wheat varieties, and incidences of rogue plants are rare. However, unapproved plants were found in 2018 in Alberta, in 2016 in Washington state, in 2014 in Montana and in 2013 in Oregon.

A Bayer CropScience spokeswoman said the latest finding may have occurred on the site of a former field trial. Last year Bayer bought Monsanto, which in the late 1990s and early 2000s developed wheat genetically modified to withstand its Roundup glyphosate herbicide.

Monsanto shelved the genetically engineered wheat in 2004 amid market concern about rejection from foreign buyers. The United States was the world’s second-largest wheat exporter after Russia in the 2018-19 marketing year.

“We have been informed by USDA of a possible detection of GM wheat in Washington State, possibly on the site of a former field trial,” Bayer CropScience spokeswoman Charla Lord said.

“We are co-operating with USDA to gather more information and facts as the agency reviews the situation,” Lord said.

Samples of the wheat plants from the field in Washington were sent to the USDA’s Federal Grain Inspection Service lab in Kansas City, Missouri, as well as a USDA lab in Pullman, Washington, for testing and confirmation, according to a joint statement from the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates, a trade group that promotes U.S. wheat sales.

Bayer, which inherited litigation over Roundup with its US$63 billion acquisition of Monsanto last year, faces lawsuits by more than 13,400 plaintiffs in the United States, alleging the product causes cancer.

A California jury last month awarded more than US$2 billion to a couple who claimed Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It was the largest U.S. jury verdict to date against the company in litigation over the chemical.

— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago; additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago.

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Japan’s agriculture ministry said it was seeking to buy 62,957 tonnes of food-quality Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS, 13.5 per protein) wheat in a regular tender that will close late on Tuesday. It usually issues tenders on Tuesdays.

Japan, the world’s sixth-biggest wheat importer, keeps a tight grip on imports of the country’s second-most important staple after rice, and buys the majority of the grain for milling via tenders typically issued thrice a month.

Japan last month announced it had suspended Canadian wheat imports following the discovery of some GM wheat plants growing along an oil well access road in southern Alberta. GM wheat is not authorized to be grown commercially in any country.

A Canadian Food Inspection Agency investigation found the plants to be an isolated incident. The Canadian Grain Commission, through monitoring, has found no evidence that unapproved wheat ever entered export cargos.

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Trade Minister Jim Carr, in a statement Friday, said Japan’s announcement “marks an end to all international trade actions” arising from the GM wheat discovery.

Japan’s decision, like South Korea’s June 26 decision to resume imports, “reaffirms the excellent quality and consistency of Canadian wheat,” they said.

Federal officials, they noted, “worked quickly and collaboratively with Japanese authorities to provide the necessary information to secure this positive outcome.”

“Today’s news proves that Canada’s science-based regulatory system works,” Tom Steve, general manager for the Alberta Wheat Commission, said in a release Friday.

“Not only does Canada’s grain handling system employ some of the most rigorous quality control protocols in the world, but we also prioritize transparency with our customers.”

“Japan is a long-standing, premium customer of Canadian wheat and is the highest-grade buyer of Canadian wheat in the world,” Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada, said in a separate release. “We appreciate that loyalty and highly value the collaborative nature of our trading partnership.”

— Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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South Korea suspended sales of Canadian wheat last week after Canada announced the discovery in mid-2017 of an unapproved genetically modified (GM) variety of the grain growing along an access road in southern Alberta.

“As we have found no unapproved GM wheat in imports of wheat and flour Canada, we have lifted the temporary sales suspension of Canadian products,” the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said in a statement.

The food ministry added it would continue to test shipments of Canadian wheat and flour from Canada.

Industry group Cereals Canada hailed the Korean government’s announcement later Tuesday, also thanking the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Canadian Grain Commission for their “strong technical work.”

The Canadian industry and government “will continue to work with Japan as they complete their due diligence,” the group said. Japan on June 15 announced a suspension of imports similar to Korea’s, but has not yet lifted its ban.

The Alberta Wheat Commission, in a separate release Tuesday, said the “quick resolution of this issue verified the integrity of the Canadian science-based regulatory and quality control systems” under the CGC and CFIA.

“This resolution is a critical step forward in providing assurance to Canadian wheat customers that Canada does not produce or ship genetically modified wheat,” AWC chairman Kevin Bender said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Jane Chung. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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Both nations suspended Canadian wheat imports following the June 15 announcement that Canada had discovered several genetically modified (GM) wheat plants in southern Alberta.

But both are expected to come back to the market shortly, while exports to others won’t be affected, according to Cereals Canada president Cam Dahl.

“We are in a good spot in that we are only going to see (temporary) trade action from Japan and Korea,” Dahl said in an interview Friday.

When GM wheat was first found in the western United States in 2013, Japan suspended U.S. wheat imports for about a month.

“I don’t want to speculate, but I think that might be a valid guideline” for Canada, he said.

“I do expect South Korea to be open in two to three weeks. It’s a 230,000-tonne (a year) market versus a 1.5 million-tonne market (in Japan).”

The GM wheat that didn’t die when sprayed with the non-selective herbicide glyphosate was found along an isolated oil platform access road in southern Alberta last summer. It contained a Monsanto trait (CP4 EPSPS) conferring glyphosate resistance, a Monsanto official said last week.

The same trait has been used in canola, soybeans and corn for 20 years and is deemed safe by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

Although CFIA doesn’t know the name of the GM wheat, through DNA fingerprinting it has determined it’s not a Canadian variety. Based on that, and extensive testing, CFIA said the GM wheat hasn’t entered Canada’s commercial wheat handling or seed system. But since no GM wheat is authorized in Canada, or elsewhere, for commercial production, there’s zero tolerance in wheat exports.

Many unanswered questions remain.

And in what’s expected to be a surprise to many, CFIA confirmed that confined field tests of GM wheat didn’t stop when Monsanto shelved its GM wheat research in 2004.

“In answer to your question, all wheat trials conducted in the 2017 confined research field trial season contained genetically modified wheat,” CFIA said in an email last week. “Trait objectives in these trials included herbicide tolerance, yield increase, fungal resistance, and selectable markers.”

The National Farmers Union’s seed committee chair, Terry Boehm, is among the surprised.

“I thought there might be laboratory tests (of GM wheat in Canada), but I thought in-field test plots, that was the end of it (in 2004), but I was mistaken,” the Colonsay, Sask., farmer said in an interview Thursday.

That prompted the National Farmers Union (NFU) to ask CFIA to ban “open air” testing of GM wheat and to reveal where it is and was tested, “so that farmers and other Canadians can be on the lookout for escapes, and if found, assist in eradicating them.”

“As the market harm implications are so great and the demand or interest in such a product is nil, we just don’t see why there should be open-air tests conducted at all on GM wheat,” Boehm said.

The federal New Democrats last week said they would call for “urgent hearings” on the matter at the House of Commons’ agriculture and agri-food committee.

“After months of challenges getting their product to market, Canadian wheat farmers are facing yet another obstacle. Canadians deserve to know more about this,” NDP ag critic Alistair MacGregor said June 15.

‘Good feedback’

Asked if Cereals Canada supports banning confined field trails for GM wheat, Dahl said that’s a question for another time.

“My focus in the next while is really on our markets… and we keep our markets open and we get Japan opened up as quickly as possible.”

Officials from Japan’s ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries (MAFF) were in Canada last week reviewing CFIA’s procedures, including the test it developed for wheat buyers to check Canadian wheat for the GM event, Dahl said.

They also met with the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) to see the process it developed to identify the GM wheat, as well as Cereals Canada.

“I believe that Canada has affectively answered the questions they had,” Dahl said.

Although MAFF officials are doing the research and preparing a report, the decision to resume Canadian wheat imports rests with Japan’s ministry of health, he said.

While other Canadian wheat customers are following the GM wheat discovery, none are contemplating suspending Canadian wheat imports, Dahl said.

“I think we will be OK in the EU (European Union),” he said. “They are not about to take trade action. So that is a very positive. Of course they are going to be testing and they will be enforcing the zero tolerance for unapproved events. They appear to be accepting the process that has been carried out here in Canada so that’s very positive.

“We’re getting good feedback from some of the other large markets. Indonesia would be an example, where again they are looking at the processes the that CFIA and CGC have carried out on their inspections and are accepting that.”

Wheat sales will also continue uninterrupted to the U.S.

“We are very much in the same boat, as it were, with the U.S.,” Dahl said alluding to small amounts of GM wheat being discovered in Oregon in 2013, and Montana and Washington in 2014 and 2016 respectively.

Surprisingly, Canada’s GM wheat is different than that found in the U.S.

What’s also odd, Monsanto Canada spokesperson Trish Jordan said, is that the CP4 EPSPS “event” found in the Alberta wheat was dropped by Monsanto in 2000 in favour of two other “events” it was planning to commercialize.

It might also seem strange that CFIA hasn’t identified the wheat the event was found in. But former University of Manitoba weed scientist Rene Van Acker said it’s likely a non-Canadian wheat Monsanto used during its early development of Roundup Ready wheat.

— Allan Dawson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Miami, Man. Follow him at @allanreporter on Twitter.

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“We will only allow sale of wheat products that are confirmed not to contain unapproved genetically modified wheat,” South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said in a statement on Monday.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said on June 14 the grain containing a genetically modified trait, developed by Monsanto to tolerate its Roundup herbicide, was found after plants along an access road survived spraying.

Following the announcement of the GM wheat discovery, Japan’s farm ministry last week suspended its tenders and sales of wheat from Canada.

“The impact of suspending the sale of Canadian wheat and flour would be limited because the share of Canadian wheat imports is small,” said a source from CJ Cheiljedang Corp., one of South Korea’s major wheat importers and flour millers.

Canada is one of the world’s largest wheat exporters and is South Korea’s No. 3 wheat supplier, after the U.S. and Australia.

In 2017, South Korea imported 226,355 tonnes of wheat from Canada, accounting for 9.2 per cent of the country’s total wheat imports, according to food ministry data.

As of June 15, South Korea had taken 89,683 tonnes of Canadian wheat for this year, making up 8.3 percent of the country’s total wheat imports.

— Reporting for Reuters by Jane Chung.

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The wheat of unknown origin contains a genetic modification making it resistant to a common herbicide, CFIA told reporters Thursday.

A Monsanto Canada official confirmed the modification, which makes plants able to tolerate the non-selective herbicide glyphosate, comes from the company.

All the GM wheat plants discovered in a field ditch have been destroyed and CFIA will monitor the site for three years to ensure the wheat doesn’t show up again.

The CFIA made the announcement during a technical briefing today to discuss what it says is “an isolated finding of a plant product of biotechnology not permitted to be grown in Canada.” CFIA also noted there’s not food safety issue as the same trait has been approved for use in corn, soybeans and canola.

No GM wheat has been found in Canada’s commercial wheat system. That means the discovery should’t disrupt Canadian wheat exports.

That was the American experience. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready wheat, which also tolerates glyphosate have been found growing in Washington state, Oregon and Montana and that didn’t undermine U.S, wheat exports.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has determined Roundup Ready wheat is safe for food and feed.

Although never commercialized in Canada or the U.S., Roundup Ready wheat was grown in open test plots in both countries. It’s speculated protocols to confine the experimental wheat were not 100 per cent effective.

However, CFIA said the wheat found in Alberta is not Monsanto’s Roundup Ready wheat.

Monsanto worked with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to develop Roundup Ready spring wheats suitable for production in Western Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But as the GM wheats got closer to commercialization, opposition from farmers and the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) increased. They feared consumer rejection of GM wheat would result in reduced wheat exports.

In 2004 Monsanto shelved plans to commercialize GM wheat in Canada and around the world.

“This decision was based on discussions with all of the relevant regulatory authorities, and we have mutually agreed that withdrawing the submissions is the appropriate course of action at this time,” Monsanto Canada said in a statement June 18, 2004.

“These actions are in keeping with our recent announcement to defer commercial development of Roundup Ready wheat until other biotechnology traits in wheat are introduced.”

Unapproved GM crops have disrupted markets in the past. StarLink corn is an example. Canada blocked entry of the crop in the fall of 2001.

CDC Triffid flax is another example. The GM flax was approved for commercial production in Canada in 2001, but deregistered to protect Canadian flax exports because importers had not approved it.

Canadian flax exports to EU, until then Canada’s biggest market, almost ground to halt in 2009 after trace amounts of Triffid were found in Canadian flax shipments to Germany.

After five years of purging Canadian flax of CDC Triffid, exports started to increase, but Canada hasn’t fully recaptured the more lucrative European food flax market.

CFIA has posted their statement and findings online:

• Detection of genetically modified herbicide-tolerant wheat in Alberta
• Statement by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on the detection of genetically modified herbicide tolerant wheat in Alberta

*[UPDATE] An earlier version of this article incorrectly mentioned Roundup Ready wheat was found in Alberta. What was found was wheat of an unknown origin that was genetically modified to tolerate glyphosate. Roundup is the trade name for Monsanto’s glyphosate.

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