2009-07-29 | permalink

Monsanto invests in U.S. wheat - GE wheat said not to be the first goal

U.S. seed and ag chem firm Monsanto will take its first steps into wheat breeding by buying Montana wheat germplasm company WestBred for US$45 million. But the St. Louis-based buyer, clearly mindful of the furore over the plans for genetically-modified wheat that it scrapped in 2004, stresses that its immediate goals don’t involve applying its Roundup Ready herbicide-tolerant trait or other genetic modifications to wheat seed. Through this deal, the company said in a release Tuesday, ”researchers will be able to apply Monsanto’s expertise in conventional and marker-assisted breeding tools to develop better-yielding varieties for U.S. farmers using WestBred’s germplasm as a foundation. ”These seeds will serve as the foundation for the development of new biotechnology traits, which will initially focus on drought tolerance, nitrogen use and higher yield.”

• Grainnews, Canada: Monsanto invests in U.S. wheat
• Monsanto, USA: Monsanto invests in wheat through WestBred acquisition
• National Association of Wheat Growers, USA: Wheat industry statement following Monsanto wheat research announcement

• The Wall Stree Journal, USA: Monsanto resurrects efforts to engineer wheat
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA: After 5-year absence, Monsanto is back in wheat
• Reuters, UK: World still wary as biotech wheat advances
• Food Navigator, USA: US wheat industry welcomes Monsanto’s GM wheat plans