The Justice Department’s use of a secretive national-security court to prevent the theft of hybrid corn seed developed by U.S. companies indicates the gravity of Sino-U.S. competition, says the The New Republic. Beyond the issues of intellectual and trade secrets is the fundamental question of assuring a food supply in coming years.
“As the global population continues to climb and climate change makes arable soil and water for irrigation ever more scarce, the world’s next superpower will be determined not just by which country has the most military might but also, and more importantly, by its mastery of the technology required to produce large quantities of food,” writes Ted Genoways in a deep dive into modern agriculture that uses as its platform the FBI investigation of an alleged plot by a group of Chinese businessmen to steal GE corn seeds from test plots in Iowa.
Genoways says the Justice Department “maintains that China is quietly permitting and even encouraging companies to steal American agricultural secrets right out of the ground.” Developing a successful corn hybrid takes years of research and millions of dollars. Plant geneticists familiar with the case said “the very fact that Kings Nower Seed has brought to market – and intended to bring more – products with stolen genetics hints that the Chinese government is complicit,” writes Genoways.
China is second to the United States as a corn producer, with a record crop forecast this year, but it will have to scramble to meet demand in the future, according to the USDA. U.S. companies dominate the global corn-seed business. Genoways says the FBI spent at least two years in tracking activity by Mo Hailong to acquire samples of test varieties and to ship them to China. Mo’s attorneys say the federal charges are judicial overkill – using national security laws to investigate a trade dispute between private companies.