Chinese Vice President’s visit to Iowa deepens partnership with US ag biotech sector

News Stories — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — CBI — February 17th, 2012

china-sympAccording to Reuters and Bloomberg, China signed agreements in Iowa to purchase biotech soybeans from American suppliers, strengthening the trade relationship between the two countries. The Wall Street Journal noted that Iowa is the nation’s biggest grower of biotech soybeans, while China is the world’s biggest importer and consumer.

The following day, Chinese and U.S. officials, including China’s Vice President Xi Jinping, attended the USDA’s first inaugural “U.S.-China Agricultural Symposium” in Des Moines. The USDA announced that U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu had signed a historic Plan of Strategic Cooperation, designed to guide the two countries’ agricultural relationship over the next 5 years.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack explained, “This plan builds on the already strong relationship our nations enjoy around agricultural science, trade, and education. It looks to deepen our cooperation through technical exchange and to strengthen coordination in priority areas like animal and plant health and disease, food security, sustainable agriculture, genetic resources, agricultural markets and trade, and biotechnology and other emerging technologies.”

Agricultural export data and farmers support benefits of biotech

News Stories — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — CBI — September 2nd, 2011
vilsack

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack

According to Western Farm Press, the USDA released data showing record agricultural exports and strong farmer income this year.  USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Strong exports have enabled agriculture to remain one of only a few sectors of the U.S. economy to enjoy a trade surplus. This year’s surplus is projected at $42.5 billion-a record-and next year should be $32 billion, the third-highest.” Read more.

US farmers worldwide recognize benefits of ag biotechfield

The American Council on Science and Health said US farmers around the world have adopted biotech and it has revolutionized farming. The article also points out scientific research supporting the safety and nutrition benefits of biotech crops. Read more.

Iowa family farmer calls for reduced regulatory barriers to biotech crops

Tim Burrack

Tim Burrack

Tim Burrack, a corn and soybean family farmer in Iowa and board member of Truth about Trade & Technology, supports Dr. Nina Fedoroff’s op-ed in the New York Times about removing costly regulatory burdens for the approval of biotech crops. In an AgWeb blog he says, “All farmers should thank Fedoroff for her advocacy-and demand that we take back our regulatory system before it deprives us of the tools we use to produce the food that the world needs.”  Read more.

Science Wins the Day: USDA Makes Science-based Decision to Deregulate Biotech Alfalfa

News Stories — Tags: , , , , — CBI — January 31st, 2011

alfalfa-2The USDA announced on Thursday the decision to deregulate Roundup Ready alfalfa without conditions. The ruling follows a lengthy USDA environmental review that determined the product was safe, as well as a public forum held last week by the House Agriculture Committee to discuss the USDA regulatory process.

An article in the Wall Street Journal points out that the USDA says that the ruling is consistent with the Obama administration’s broader agenda to remove regulations that are “overly burdensome for businesses.” The Des Moines Register points out that the decision comes as a victory for the biotech companies and farmers who have “said planting restrictions could slow the development of genetically modified products, and there were worries in Congress that the rules could undermine U.S. efforts to convince other countries of the safety of biotech food.”

Paul Voosen of Greenwire writes for the New York Times that the Department of Agriculture’s decision to allow unrestricted cultivation of the biotech crop will be positively received by many farmers who grow alfalfa, the fourth largest U.S. field crop planted. “Many farmers will welcome an ability to grow the herbicide-resistant alfalfa, seeking to copy the gains made by their peers cultivating bioengineered corn or soy, both of which also carry genes granting herbicide resistance.”

According to Forbes, the decision to allow biotech alfalfa intends, “to bring to a close a lengthy legal and regulatory process in which organic producers attempted to curtail the use of the modified crop.” An article in New Scientist captures the implications of the decision and its support for science-based regulations. Farmer associations “had feared a decision to regulate alfalfa would set a precedent that could hinder engineered crops in the US. ‘Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s decision is based on sound science and two decades of regulatory precedent,’ said Jim Greenwood, CEO of Biotechnology Industry Organization.”

 

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