Brazil, one of the world’s most populous nations, has joined neighboring Argentina in approval of the cultivation and sale of wheat that is genetically modified to resist drought — another milestone in the campaign to apply biotechnology to food directly consumed as part of the human diet. Six other countries, including the United States, have ruled Bioceres’ HB4 wheat safe to eat but do not allow their farmers to grow GMO wheat.
Bioceres Crop Solutions, based in Argentina, said on Friday that Brazil’s National Biosafety Technical Commission “has concluded the safety evaluation of HB4 wheat, providing full approval for commercialization and cultivation in Brazil.” Approval opens the Brazilian market to GMO wheat and would accelerate work on subtropical wheat varieties, said the company. “HB4 wheat offers the potential of double-cropping — rotating wheat with a summer legume — in regions of the country that are currently limited by water availability.”
Dozens of genetically engineered crops have been approved for cultivation in the quarter-century since agricultural biotechnology has become common but the wheat industry has hesitated out of concern that consumers might reject genetically engineered wheat. There was vocal opposition to the introduction of GMO corn and soybeans in the mid-1990s.
Bioceres says its HB4 wheat, which also was modified to tolerate the weedkiller glufosinate, “is a key tool in the adaptation of farming systems to a more extreme climate” and has delivered yields 40 percent higher than other varieties during periods of extreme water stress.
Argentina, a major wheat exporter, and Brazil account for 90 percent of wheat plantings in South America.
According to the news site World-Grain, Bioceres will seek planting approval in Australia this year. If it succeeds, that “could open the door for acceptance in other major wheat-producing countries such as the United States.”