The USDA has never approved cultivation of genetically engineered wheat, yet for the fourth time since April 2013 a wheat strain resistant to the weedkiller glyphosate was found growing wild in the northwestern United States. The discovery could disrupt wheat exports and it raises questions about USDA’s ability to police agricultural biotechnology.
In the new incident, GE wheat plants were discovered in a fallow field in Washington State, said USDA’s biotechnology regulator, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). “The GE wheat in question is resistant to glyphosate, commonly referred to as Roundup. There is no evidence that GE wheat has entered the food chain,” said APHIS on Friday.
“We cannot speculate or comment about any potential market reactions until we learn more from APHIS and have a chance to discuss the situation in more detail with overseas customers,” said export promoter U.S. Wheat Associates and the farm group National Association of Wheat Growers.
Japan and South Korea, two major importers of U.S. wheat, suspended purchases after the previous case of rogue GMO wheat, in Washington State in mid 2016. South Korea resumed purchases after four days. Japan was out of the U.S. market for one month.
The USDA never found the source of the 22 stalks of GMO wheat at issue in 2016, or the source of “volunteer” GMO wheat discovered on a farm in eastern Oregon in early 2013 — the first known U.S. incident of biotech wheat in the wild. In the third case, at a research farm at Huntley, Montana, in fall 2014, the USDA reprimanded Monsanto and Montana State University for failing to adhere to performance standards for field trials. GE wheat was tested at the site from 2002-03.
All three cases involved GMO wheat strains developed by Monsanto. The giant seed company, now owned by Bayer, has said it conducted a limited number of field trials of Roundup-tolerant GMO wheat in the Pacific Northwest from 1999-2001, before shuttering the project. At that time, the wheat industry was mindful of consumer doubts about the safety of GMO crops. Unlike corn or soybeans, wheat usually is consumed directly as food. More recently, U.S. wheat groups said biotechnology should be added “to the tools used by breeders to improve wheat varieties,” provided domestic and international customers will accept the results.
A Bayer spokeswoman said the new incident may have occurred at a former test site for GE wheat, reported Reuters.
“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,” said APHIS. In 2016, APHIS got its first word of the possibility of rogue GE wheat six weeks before the discovery was made public. The agency used the time to confirm the herbicide-tolerant wheat was genetically engineered and to begin testing all the wheat grown on the farm where the GE wheat was found.
In general, researchers are supposed to restrict experimental crops to test plots, eradicate stray plants and police the site against volunteer plants, as well as keeping strict control of the seed.
Following previous detections, the USDA changed its regulations to require developers of GE wheat to receive a USDA permit for field trials of GE wheat. The approach “enables APHIS to create and enforce permit conditions that ensure confinement and minimize the risk that the regulated GE wheat will persist in the environment,” said the USDA.
Washington State is often the fourth-largest wheat-producing state in the nation. The Washington Grain Commission says 85-90 percent of the wheat is exported, mainly to Pacific Rim customers.
For USDA’s list of GE wheat incidents, click here.