May 10, 2004
Monsanto Drops Development of Roundup Ready Wheat
Biotech giant faced stiff opposition from farmers, international customers
CHENEY—In a major announcement today, Monsanto abandoned its plans to commercialize Roundup Ready wheat, saying that they will “discontinue breeding and field level research of Roundup Ready wheat” despite seven years of development. Monsanto has been unable to overcome strong market resistance to genetically-modified (GM) wheat from farmers and foreign markets in Asia and other wheat-importing regions.
“Genetically-modified wheat was a solution for Monsanto, not for Washington’s family farmers. They were pushing a product that nobody wanted, and they finally gave up as a result of the strong resistance around the world to genetically-modified wheat. This is an historic day,” said Maurice Robinette, Eastern Washington organizer for the Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network (WSFFN). WSFFN, a statewide advocacy organization for sustainable agriculture and family farms, has been meeting with wheat farmers over the past year to hear farmers’ perspectives and to foster discussion in Washington State among farmers, consumers and Washington State University on the controversial issue.
Washington State exports nearly 90% of the wheat produced in the state, primarily to Japan and South Korea. These countries have taken a strong stance against GM wheat, for health and environmental reasons. Commercialization of Roundup Ready wheat would have been an economic disaster for Washington wheat farmers.
“There is no support for Roundup Ready wheat from either consumers or the marketplace,” said Jim Davis, a Douglas county wheat grower and president of Washington Farmers Union. “I commend Monsanto’s decision to listen to the concerns of growers and suspend research on Roundup Ready wheat.”
In March of 2003, WSFFN, the Washington Farmers Union, and other Washington State-based farm and environmental organizations signed on to a legal petition to USDA (filed by the Western Organization of Resource Councils and other regional and national organizations) to place a moratorium on commercialization of genetically-modified wheat until the Agency performed a full economic and environmental impact statement. (The full petition is available at www.centerforfoodsafety.org/li/WheatUSDApetFinalD7.pdf)
“We call on Monsanto to immediately withdraw its petition to USDA to allow commercialization of Roundup Ready wheat,” said Robinette. “And we call on USDA to perform full economic, health and environmental impact assessments of any future GM crops proposed for commercial release,” pointing out that Monsanto’s statement leaves open the possibility of releasing other biotech wheat varieties in the future.
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