Speaking at the DairyNZ Farmers Forum, Dr Jacqueline Rowarth, professor of agribusiness at the University of Waikato, discussed genetic modification and the question of whether it should be part of our future.
Techniques associated with understanding gene operations are developing. Farmers and growers are identifying aspects that allow improvements in outcomes for consumers, such as increased vitamin A levels in golden rice and reduced rates of pesticide use in organic cotton. The increase in approval of GE products indicated people are buying more of them.
A Purdue University study showed the environmental toll of eliminating GMO (genetically modified organisms) was huge, with an estimated yield loss because of insect damage and weed invasion in soybean of 5.2%, corn 11.2% and cotton 18.6%.
The impact of the losses wouldn’t only be on the soil, but also in increased greenhouse gas production.
Consumer trends
However, Rowarth said for NZ the focus must be on consumers and what they were prepared to pay for. Research suggested some clear signals about food and health.
The trend towards organic food was because 76% of respondents believed that organic food was healthier, whereas only 37% purchased organic food because it was GE-free and 18% of people were willing to pay a premium for all-natural and GE-free food.
“In NZ we have mostly pasture feed, free range and are all about omega-3s. We don’t use growth hormones in any of our production systems, we are the third-lowest user of antibiotics in the world and one of only four countries that has animal welfare A-grade. NZ is fantastic and we need to do a better pitch of our story.”
New technologies
The development of new ways of gene editing was blurring the understanding of what constitutes GE, Rowarth said, and more education was needed about it. The Arctic Fresh apple, for example, was developed in response to 62% of consumers wanting a non-browning apple.
The apple was created using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique, which involved chemically removing part of the DNA in a gene and adding new DNA in its place.
“They talk about it as taking out a piece of the railway track, that’s to do with silencing the polyphenol oxidase gene that causes browning in apples, and putting in a slightly different piece of track.”
The silencing component originally came from a potato, which meant the Arctic Fresh apple was classed as GE in the United States. The same technique was used on button mushrooms to prevent browning, but the technique was used to turn the browning gene off, and required no gene insertion, meaning it wasn’t classed as GE and wasn’t subject to regulation by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). In NZ, however, both methods of turning off the browning gene were considered to be GE.
In regards to safety concerns, Rowarth said in more than 130 research projects, there was no evidence of safety issues in GE products and they were no more risky than traditional plant breeding technologies.
Opportunities for New Zealand
GE could provide opportunities for science in NZ, Rowarth said. Drought-tolerant ryegrasses without introduced genetic material from other species were being trialled under containment at the Biotron at Lincoln University and trialled successfully in Australia and California but not used in NZ.
“The DELLA gene for growing more grass with the same nitrogen input or the same amount of grass with a lower nitrogen input has also been identified, which of course has implications for the impact on the environment and the animal.”
Greg Bryan, AgResearch principal scientist for High Metabolisable Energy (HME) forages.
The plant biotechnology team at AgResearch developed high metabolisable energy grass (high lipids) which could methane by about 30% and reduce nitrous oxides by about 20%, without compromising plant growth or milk yield.
The potential additional value to GDP, based on modelling done by AgResearch scientists, of this grass is about $2-$5 billion a year, depending on the adoption rate by farmers.
However, because high metabolisable grasses have some inserted DNA from other species, these field trials have to be done overseas and then repeated here because of NZ’s regulations.
Research on consumer acceptance of food crops developed by genetic editing, published by Hokkaido University in Japan, concluded education, a supportive regulatory framework and communication of the risks and benefits in using the new technologies were vital to achieve understanding.
“If these technologies assist us with environmental impacts, like nitrogen, methane and greenhouse gases, then that might help with our marketing story.”
The USDA has done a lot of work on this too, and although the people were most concerned about price, there were indications people also wanted GE-free food.
“But people are also saying if the price was 20% lower, they would buy GE products, so there are some confusing market signals there.”
NZ produced many of the food attributes consumers were looking for. Caroline Saunders, along with many others at the Farmers Forum, said there was a need for NZ to tell its story better by celebrating its attributes (Dairy Exporter, June, p16).
“In the future we will be able to do even better, and gene technologies will be part of the strategy. In the mean time, education of all parties is vital as is evaluation and communication of the risks and benefits.”
Rowarth said an emphasis on health was likely to be the route to consumer adoption and result in New Zealand having the most highly valued food in the world.
“(It’s) a credible vision to which we can all aspire.”
