The United States is joining Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay as the fourth country in the world to give the green light to production of biotech or genetically modified wheat in the coming years.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved cultivation of Bioceres Crop Solutions’ HB4 drought-tolerant wheat technology, as of August 27, 2024.
In addition to the drought-tolerance transcription factor derived from sunflowers, HB4 wheat has been engineered to be tolerant to glufosinate herbicide.
The National Association of Wheat Growers is welcoming the approval by U.S. authorities, while noting additional steps are needed before the trait’s benefits can be realized and commercialized, including closed-system field trials.
“As a wheat grower who has experienced drought firsthand, it is exciting to see a regulatory pathway where drought-tolerant wheat might be available to producers in the future,” said NAWG president and Oklahoma farmer Keeff Felty. “Over the past few years, wheat producers across the major wheat producing regions have had to grapple with intense drought, and continued innovations like HB4 can be a tool that helps growers protect and stabilize their yields.”
U.S. Wheat Associates’ leaders also voiced confidence in the trait’s potential to deliver significant benefits for both producers and consumers in the future.
“There is still a lot of ground to cover with this technology and our organization will stay actively engaged in the process on behalf of our farmers and overseas customers,” said USW Director of Trade Policy Peter Laudeman. “We appreciate the commitment that Bioceres is making to working with its wheat industry partners to ensure robust stewardship of this technology prior to commercial release.”
Regarding market acceptance, regulators in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia, Colombia and Chile have granted approval for food and feed use of HB4 wheat. Bioceres is also starting field trials in Australia to gather data to support production in the future.
The Argentina-based company says it will be providing further details on the rollout of its HB4 wheat during its next earnings call on Sept. 10.
Bioceres does not mention Canada with regard to the HB4 wheat. As of Aug. 29, the company has not responded to an inquiry from RealAgriculture about plans for the Canadian market.
Related: Genetically-modified drought tolerant wheat approved in Argentina