Post by glowplug on Sept 17, 2011 21:39:13 GMT -5
BY JANE FYKSEN, CROPS EDITOR Agri-View | 0 comments
The U.S. grain industry is in turmoil over genetically modified Agrisure Viptera corn and whether or not producers will have somewhere to sell it at harvest this fall. As of Agri-View's press deadline, many feedmills, ethanol plants and other outlets were still trying to figure out how to accommodate producer/ customers while, in turn, not jeopardizing their own potential sales farther along the marketing chain.
The National Corn Growers Association recently alerted its members to this fall marketing concern, noting that for the 2011 growing season, Syngenta introduced its new Agrisure Viptera product through its seed partners Golden Harvest, Garst, NK and additional independent retailers. The Viptera trait protects corn from corn borer, corn rootworm and a multitude of other corn pests.
While commercialization of Viptera was done in accordance with the U.S. regulatory approval system and met the policy requirements of both NCGA and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), several major U.S. grain exporters-most notably Consolidated Grain and Barge and Bunge North America-balked at accepting Viptera grain, due to potentially new major importers entering the U.S. marketplace that hadn't yet approved this trait for import-most notably China. (Syngenta is suing Bunge over its refusal.)
According to NCGA, Chinese approval of this trait isn't anticipated until the first or second quarter of 2012, and EU approval possibly in 2012, reports NCGA president Barton Schott. Syngenta has filed for approval from the non-key export market of China, (which it expects to receive in March 2012). China is estimated to represent less than one percent of total U.S. corn exports for 2011.
NCGA is urging all corn growers to review their new-crop marketing obligations and raise concerns with their buyers and seed company and work toward resolution prior to harvest. NCGA has established a website devoted exclusively to the Viptera situation which is continuously updated. It's at www.ncga.com/Viptera.
Currently NCGA has been notified by the following buyers their policies on Agrisure Viptera are: Consolidated Grain and Barge-signs posted not accepting the product; Bunge North America-signs posted not accepting the product; Cargill-wants to be notified prior to delivery if growers are delivering Viptera. While Cargill isn't barring Viptera from its mills, it wants advance notification from producers in order to find a market for that corn.
This Viptera situation is reminiscent of the StarLink situation many years ago, a variety unapproved for food use that turned up in U.S. corn shipped to Japan. U.S. sales to that big corn customer (as well as South Korea) were jeopardized, and the subsequent grain testing and segregating turned out to be very costly to the U.S. grain industry. Thus, the industry is gun-shy over China-an emerging major U.S. corn market-and the EU, not having yet approved this new GMO. Many other major corn markets have, however, already given Viptera the nod, and China is presently working approval through its bureaucratic channels. It just won't come in time for this fall's harvest.
China, according to University of Illinois ag economist Bryan Endres, is the seventh largest export destination of U.S. corn and is expected to grow significantly this year from 1.5 to 2 million metric tons. He says Bunge elected to forego purchasing of the Viptera variety due to concerns of product commingling and the potential loss of the commercially important Chinese market.
As noted, in August, Syngenta filed suit in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa, seeking to force Bunge to accept deliver of the Viptera corn. In its complaint, Endres says Syngenta alleges Bunge falsely represented the facts surrounding the Viptera variety in violation of the federal Lanham Act and various state unfair trade practice statutes, violated both federal and state Warehouse Acts, injured business reputation, and, among other claims, intentionally interfered with contractual relations between Syngenta and the farmers who purchased Viptera seed.
"Not surprisingly," says Endres, "Bunge strongly refutes these claims, arguing that it ‘must protect the integrity of (its) export supply chain by not accepting Agrisure Viptera and other varieties that do not have major export market approval.' Bunge reasons that it must protect its farmer-customer's ability to provide access to the global marketplace-and the accompanying price benefits-and, therefore, could not accept the Viptera product."
"We are taking this action to remove the illegal impediment Bunge imposed on growers when they announced mid-season that they would not accept grain enhanced by the Agrisure Viptera trait," says David Morgan, President, North America. "When a product has been legally approved, growers should be able to use that technology without subsequently being subjected to arbitrary actions."
The U.S. grain industry is in turmoil over genetically modified Agrisure Viptera corn and whether or not producers will have somewhere to sell it at harvest this fall. As of Agri-View's press deadline, many feedmills, ethanol plants and other outlets were still trying to figure out how to accommodate producer/ customers while, in turn, not jeopardizing their own potential sales farther along the marketing chain.
The National Corn Growers Association recently alerted its members to this fall marketing concern, noting that for the 2011 growing season, Syngenta introduced its new Agrisure Viptera product through its seed partners Golden Harvest, Garst, NK and additional independent retailers. The Viptera trait protects corn from corn borer, corn rootworm and a multitude of other corn pests.
While commercialization of Viptera was done in accordance with the U.S. regulatory approval system and met the policy requirements of both NCGA and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), several major U.S. grain exporters-most notably Consolidated Grain and Barge and Bunge North America-balked at accepting Viptera grain, due to potentially new major importers entering the U.S. marketplace that hadn't yet approved this trait for import-most notably China. (Syngenta is suing Bunge over its refusal.)
According to NCGA, Chinese approval of this trait isn't anticipated until the first or second quarter of 2012, and EU approval possibly in 2012, reports NCGA president Barton Schott. Syngenta has filed for approval from the non-key export market of China, (which it expects to receive in March 2012). China is estimated to represent less than one percent of total U.S. corn exports for 2011.
NCGA is urging all corn growers to review their new-crop marketing obligations and raise concerns with their buyers and seed company and work toward resolution prior to harvest. NCGA has established a website devoted exclusively to the Viptera situation which is continuously updated. It's at www.ncga.com/Viptera.
Currently NCGA has been notified by the following buyers their policies on Agrisure Viptera are: Consolidated Grain and Barge-signs posted not accepting the product; Bunge North America-signs posted not accepting the product; Cargill-wants to be notified prior to delivery if growers are delivering Viptera. While Cargill isn't barring Viptera from its mills, it wants advance notification from producers in order to find a market for that corn.
This Viptera situation is reminiscent of the StarLink situation many years ago, a variety unapproved for food use that turned up in U.S. corn shipped to Japan. U.S. sales to that big corn customer (as well as South Korea) were jeopardized, and the subsequent grain testing and segregating turned out to be very costly to the U.S. grain industry. Thus, the industry is gun-shy over China-an emerging major U.S. corn market-and the EU, not having yet approved this new GMO. Many other major corn markets have, however, already given Viptera the nod, and China is presently working approval through its bureaucratic channels. It just won't come in time for this fall's harvest.
China, according to University of Illinois ag economist Bryan Endres, is the seventh largest export destination of U.S. corn and is expected to grow significantly this year from 1.5 to 2 million metric tons. He says Bunge elected to forego purchasing of the Viptera variety due to concerns of product commingling and the potential loss of the commercially important Chinese market.
As noted, in August, Syngenta filed suit in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa, seeking to force Bunge to accept deliver of the Viptera corn. In its complaint, Endres says Syngenta alleges Bunge falsely represented the facts surrounding the Viptera variety in violation of the federal Lanham Act and various state unfair trade practice statutes, violated both federal and state Warehouse Acts, injured business reputation, and, among other claims, intentionally interfered with contractual relations between Syngenta and the farmers who purchased Viptera seed.
"Not surprisingly," says Endres, "Bunge strongly refutes these claims, arguing that it ‘must protect the integrity of (its) export supply chain by not accepting Agrisure Viptera and other varieties that do not have major export market approval.' Bunge reasons that it must protect its farmer-customer's ability to provide access to the global marketplace-and the accompanying price benefits-and, therefore, could not accept the Viptera product."
"We are taking this action to remove the illegal impediment Bunge imposed on growers when they announced mid-season that they would not accept grain enhanced by the Agrisure Viptera trait," says David Morgan, President, North America. "When a product has been legally approved, growers should be able to use that technology without subsequently being subjected to arbitrary actions."