Brazil’s millers oppose GMO wheat imports
Published: October 7, 2021
Category: GMO News
Brazil’s flour millers are threatening to stop buying wheat from Argentina if Brazil approves genetically modified wheat imports from its neighbor.
According to the Brazilian Wheat Industry Association (Abitrigo), local millers are opposed to processing GMO wheat from Argentina or any other country.
Rubens Barbosa, head of Abitrigo, told Reuters: “There is no country in the world that accepts the import of GMO wheat. We don’t want to be the guinea pigs.”
Brazil’s biosecurity agency CTNBio is reviewing a request to approve the sale in Brazil of a GMO wheat produced in Argentina, and a decision on the request could come in the first week of October.
Argentine biotech company Bioceres SA developed the GMO wheat, which is genetically modified to resist drought and tolerate ammonium glufosinate, an herbicide. It is now being planted on 55,000 hectares (135,907 acres), according to public disclosures.
About 80% of Brazil’s wheat imports come from Argentina, and the country could increase imports of non-GMO wheat from Uruguay, Paraguay, United States, Canada, and Russia to avoid Argentina’s GMO wheat if necessary, Barbosa said.
Source: Successful Farming
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Organic & Non-GMO Insights October 2021
