Reduced pesticide applications, made possible with biotech crops, mean farmers use less fuel.
Environmental author and activist apologizes for “demonizing” GM crops
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previous issues.
Hawaii News Now reports on Hawaii’s first Biotech Summit and the success of the Rainbow Papaya, a genetically engineered papaya that can withstand the ringspot virus and saved the Hawaii papaya industry from devastation.
It’s that time of the week: The CBI Ag Biotech news round-up! Here’s what we’re reading this week:
Purdue University Researcher finds that introducing a yeast gene extends the shelf life of tomatoes
Avtar Handa, a professor of horticulture at Purdue University, found that adding a yeast gene to tomatoes increases production of a compound that slows aging and decay. Fully ripe tomatoes from the transgenic tomato plants studied lasted about eight days longer before showing signs of shriveling compared with the non-transgenic plants. This finding can have broad implications and help people have access to fresh fruits even without controlled environment storage. Learn more
Hawaii Crop Improvement Association’s annual meeting
The annual meeting of the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association (a CBI partner) brought together “more than 150 members, allies and stakeholders of Hawaii’s agriculture industry.” In addition to policymakers and local reporters, this year’s meeting featured Douglas Jones, Executive Director of Growers for Biotechnology, who gave the keynote address on Food, Fiber and Fuel for the Future: Embracing Biotechnology.
Loren Mochida of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association also gave a speech at the meeting on the evolution of Hawaii’s Rainbow papaya (a biotech variety) and its potential to be imported into Japan. Read more and view photos from the annual meeting.
Many thanks to our friends Karl Haro von Mogel and Frank N. Foode (everyone’s favorite biotech buddy) of Biofortified fame for posting some great photos from our time at BIO 2010 in Chicago. We especially love and appreciate the photos featuring the CBI panel and CBI experts/panelists. View the photos.
CBI Managing Director Ariel Gruswitz poses with Frank N. Foode
Frank N. Foode makes friends (and a photo album) at BIO 2010
Thanks again to Karl and our favorite biotech buddy, Frank N. Foode!
CBI panelists from L to R: Sally Squires, moderator, Dr. Bruce Chassy, Dr. Margaret Zeigler, Michael Specter, Kenneth Kamiya and Maywa Montenegro
On Wednesday we hosted a panel about public perceptions and the impact misperceptions can have on the adoption of ag biotechnology. In a crowded conference room, Sally Squires moderated a lively discussion about some of the common misperceptions of ag biotechnology and how scientists, journalists and third party hunger advocates can help correct those misperceptions for the benefit of all. READ MORE »
CBI is organizing a panel this year at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Conference on May 5 titled “How Public Perception Affects Adoption of Technologies that Help Feed the World.” We are excited about our distinguished group of panelists and are looking forward to a robust discussion about the political, communication and regulatory hurdles that slow acceptance of agricultural technologies.
The panel will address the connection between public perception of technologies, such as agricultural biotechnology, and their adoption. The speakers will address the political hurdles, which often result from cultures of misinformation and unfounded fears, that inhibit acceptance of agricultural technologies and that prevent certain populations from access to their many benefits.
We would love to hear ideas from our readers and let you help shape our panel discussion. Please feel free to submit questions for our panelists through Twitter, Facebook or the comments section of the blog. Our moderator, Sally Squires, will choose the best and use them throughout our panel.
Below are our excellent panelists, an accomplished group of authors, journalists, academics and advocates. We look forward to hearing their unique and informed perspectives about the role perception plays in the adoption of crop technology.
Sally Squires - Moderator
Senior Vice President, Weber Shandwick; former medical and health Staff Writer and Nationally Syndicated Columnist for The Washington Post
Michael Specter
Staff writer for The New Yorker, author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives
Maywa Montenegro
Senior Associate Editor, Seed Magazine
Bruce Chassy, Ph. D.
Professor of food microbiology and a professor of nutritional sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Kenneth Kamiya
President, Hawaii Papaya Industry Association
Margaret Zeigler, Ph. D.
Deputy Director, Congressional Hunger Center
Hawaii’s agricultural biotech industry is thriving. The state’s seed industry has grown at steady clip and is now valued at a record high of $146.3 million according to the Hawaii Ag Statistics Service. That’s an increase of 42% since 2006.
Hawaii’s ag biotech industry is represented by the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, a non-profit trade association founded in 1971 by Dr. James Brewbaker as an offshoot of the Corn Research Program at the University of Hawaii College of Agriculture.
HCIA member companies have farms and facilities on the islands of Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and Molokai and employ more than 1,800 workers. Although Hawaii is the leading producer of seed corn, the papaya crop is perhaps the best-known example of how ag biotech has truly flourished there.
Hawaii’s papaya industry was in the verge of extinction due to the papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) when USDA plant virologist Dr. Dennis Gonsalves and a team of biologists and horticulturalists began efforts to develop transgenic papaya that was resistant to PRSV. One PRSV-resistant line was discovered and farmers began planting the transgenic cultivar in 1999, effectively sparing the industry from disaster.
Since then, growers in Hawaii have been focusing on the role that their state can play in the global economy. “Food, agriculture and growth must be the fundamental and sustained objectives of our state,” said Hawaii Crop Improvement Association President Adolph Helm. “It’s very easy to say ‘no’ to genetically modified food when your stomach is full. It’s time for us to ‘grow locally and feed globally.’”
Helm also responded to ISAAA’s annual report on the global status of commercialized biotech crops, saying, “The report confirms that the research work being conducted by the seed industry in Hawaii is having a profound impact on agriculture worldwide. The increased demand for biotech crops is proof that the technology has become a vital tool for farmers in developing countries who struggle with poverty, malnutrition and resource-poor farmlands. ”
Also, check out the introduction to HCIA’s new video, “Seeds of Promise,” which shares how biotechnology is shaping Hawaii’s future, and features academics, researchers and state policymakers discussing the benefits of agricultural biotechnology.
