Milling & Baking News - April 1, 2014 - 28

Industry Activities 

Millers consider the future
of wheat at meeting
MARCO ISLAND, FLA. - Three major
presentations given at the North American Millers' Association soft wheat milling division meeting on Marco Island in
mid-February considered a time in the
not too distant future when bioengineering may develop a new generation
of wheat varieties. The varieties will
make the crop more attractive to producers considering what to plant and
to millers and bakers seeking the development of varieties with traits that will
ensure wheat remains a nutritious and
popular staple in the American diet.
Adrianne Massey, managing director,
science and regulatory affairs, Biotechnology Industry Organization, Washington, proved to be a spirited as well as
informative advocate for bioengineering in general and in crop production
in particular. Dr. Massey explained that
bioengineering was only the latest in a
continuous stream of intentional human
interventions that have modified the genetic makeup of crop plants and domesticated animals over thousands of years.
She made the point that of all such human interventions, bioengineering was
the most precise and purposeful and
even the least likely to have unintended
consequences.
Millers had great "takeaways" from
Dr. Massey's presentation as they considered what the renewed attention to
bioengineering wheat may portend
for their industry and customers, the
consuming public.
Paul Penner, owner of Penner Farms
of Hillsboro, Kas., and president of the
National Association of Wheat Growers, spoke of the work of the Wheat
Innovation Alliance in preparing the
groundwork for public acceptance
of bioengineered wheat. Mr. Penner
said the alliance has brought together
wheat growers with others in what
he called the grain chain, including
NAMA, the American Bakers Association, U.S. Wheat Associates and research and technology companies.
Mr. Penner said as a producer, his
decisions on what to plant are based
on what returns likely would be provided by the various field crops. He
said in recent years, wheat has lost
acres to corn and soybeans, crops that
have reaped benefits from biotechnology since the mid-1990s with regard
to increased yields, range for growing
and crop management. The bottom line
was many producers who otherwise
would plant wheat have found they
28 / April 1, 2014 Milling & Baking News

could make more money by growing
bioengineered corn or soybeans.
Mr. Penner said to be competitive
with those crops, wheat, too, must be
positioned to realize benefits from the
advanced agricultural technologies.
"Biotechnology will allow us to increase beneficial characteristics or possibly decrease unfavorable characteristics in wheat," he said.
Bioengineering may improve the farmer's ability
to grow wheat with less
impact on the environment
by reducing pesticide, fertilizer and water use. It also may help
wheat crop fare better through volatile
weather, Mr. Penner said.
For the miller and baker, bioengineering may help develop wheat varieties
with increased fiber and mineral content. It even may be possible to engineer
a reduced-gluten or gluten-free wheat,
Mr. Penner said. Bioengineering also
may make it possible to develop varieties with many other traits that would
benefit both producers and end users.
Consumer acceptance of the notion
of bioengineered wheat was growing,
Mr. Penner said. He pointed to International Food Information Council (IFIC)
studies indicating 70% of consumers
were somewhat likely or very likely
to buy foods made from wheat engineered to use less land, water and/or
pesticides, and 69% of consumers said
they would buy bread, crackers, cookies, cereals or pasta made with flour
from wheat modified by bioengineering to provide enhanced nutritional
benefits.
Mr. Penner said the hope was wheat
food products made from bioengineered wheat may be available on grocery shelves by 2023. In the meantime,
there was much work to be done. He
said the alliance will convene a Wheat
Forum sometime in 2014.
"We are all in this together," Mr.
Penner said.
David B. Schmidt, president and
chief executive officer, IFIC, Washington, spoke on how to communicate the
benefits of modern agriculture including biotechnology. IFIC is a partner
with NAMA and 117 other food industry organizations, scientific societies
and universities in the Alliance to Feed
the Future, whose mission it is to raise
awareness and improve understanding
of the benefits and necessity of modern food production and technology in

order to meet global demand.
Mr. Schmidt pointed to IFIC's newly published "Food Biotechnology: A
Communicator's Guide to Improving
Understanding," which it prepared
under a partnering agreement with
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Foreign Agricultural Service. He said
the guide not only will be useful in
educating the American public on biotechnology but will be used in American embassies abroad to communicate
the benefits of biotechnology
to trading partners.
Mr. Schmidt discussed
what he called IFIC's 10
biotechnology communication tenets.
1. The purpose for each
new product of food biotechnology
and its benefits must be explained
clearly at the beginning of public discussion.
2. Biotechnology must be placed in
context with the evolution of agricultural practices.
3. Emphasis should be placed on
farmers who plant the seeds that already contain beneficial traits developed through biotechnology.
4. An accurate, rather than absolute,
view of food and environmental safety
determinations by regulators should
be communicated for each product in
each country.
5. Communications should emphasize the exhaustive research over
many years that led to the introduction of each new product of food biotechnology.
6. Communications should underscore that additional food labeling requirements are necessary when there
is a significant change in the composition or nutritional value of a food or if
a potential food allergen is introduced
from the use of biotechnology.
7. Government and industry communications on food biotechnology
must be consistent in order to earn
consumer confidence.
8. Consumer group activism does not
necessarily reflect consumer attitudes,
and many consumer groups support or
do not oppose biotechnology.
9. Multinational approvals on many
products of food biotechnology are the
result of strong international scientific
consensus.
10. It is important to stress that food
biotechnology also provides important benefits in addressing hunger and
food security throughout the world.
The presentations were well received and gave millers much to think
about as they looked to the future. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

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Milling & Baking News - April 1, 2014

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