Ag leaders work to smooth over GMO corn issue with China

DES MOINES | Genetically modified corn from Iowa and elsewhere isn’t cutting it in China, according to news reports.

Iowa agriculture officials and corn industry leaders acknowledge that China recently rejected a shipment of GMO corn from the U.S., but they also say talks are ongoing to smooth the rough spots out of what they call a misunderstanding of what GMOs are all about.

“It’s really hard to know what the reasons would be for something like that,” said Bill Northey, Iowa’s agriculture secretary.

Factors other than the presence of GMOs could be at play in the rejection, Northey said.

“We’ve seen the corn market go down in price, and some suggest some of this corn was probably bought at higher prices ... so there’s some motivation to reject it and not have to pay the higher price,” he said.

Pam Johnson, a sixth-generation corn farmer in Floyd and president of the National Corn Growers Association as well as part of Maizall, a new international corn industry alliance of the U.S., Brazil and Argentina, recently went to a food security summit in China to meet with agriculture leaders and regulators to work through any difficulties.

“We were there to talk about how important biotechnology is, not only to food but to food security,” Johnson said. “We all know we’re fierce competitors in the global marketplace, but we all realize we have challenges and opportunities we all share and it’s to all our benefit if we work together.”

More than 40 speakers from China’s government and regulatory system addressed the summit, and they indicated an openness to working with international partners, Johnson said.

“They said they’re looking at changing their definition of food security,” Johnson said. “Instead of saying food security means we can grow it all by ourselves, they’ll be looking to growers in other countries and saying, ‘We want an open and transparent signal about how much we need and what we need, which other markets can respond to.' It’s a huge deal and something we’ve needed.”

One of the messages brought to China was how important that market is to Iowa corn, Johnson said.

“We know livestock and ethanol are very important, but we need to remember 95 percent of world’s population lives outside our borders,” she said. “The issues may be complex, but we think we can and will work on them to make sure we have a global trading system that is efficient, because it’s important to all of us.”

There’s nothing new in biotech crops, and China understands that, Northey said.

“China itself has bought gobs and gobs of U.S. soybeans, and all those are biotech,” he said. “All the corn we’ve shipped has been biotech. But they’re really starting to grow as a corn buyer.”

There are plenty of global markets for Iowa corn, Northey said.

“It matters to the corn market, but if the corn finds another home, it matters to the total demand,” he said. “To most Iowa farmers, we don’t know if it’s going to a chicken feeder in Arkansas or a feed miller in China or Japan. We just know it left, and that disappearance matters.”

Biotech is as much a part of farming as soil and water, said Nick Sawyer, a corn and soybean farmer in Tama County.

“To feed people and feed them effectively, we have to grow the best crop at the highest levels we can,” he said. “Just with the way the system is right now and some of the problems we have with weeds and things, growing with non-genetically modified crops just hurts the yield so much, it probably hurt a lot more people if we didn’t have them. We wouldn’t have enough to feed them.”

Shannon Textor, director of market development with the Johnston-based Iowa Corn Growers Association, said she was in China when some of the corn shipments were stopped.

She said she also has sat in on a number of “really good meetings” that addressed concerns.

“We went to the ports and talked to end-user customers for both pork as well as corn and distillers' grains,” she said. “There’s an understanding why we use technology on our farms. I think there was an appreciation and understanding why farmers use that.”

The U.S. Grains Council has boots on the ground in China and continues to meet with officials, Textor said.

“They’re working on this issue, and it’s all-consuming of their time,” she said. “It’s created a roadblock for trade, so they’re working with the ministry of agriculture.”

Textor said she is optimistic that further understanding will lead to future sales.

“We as farmers need that tech, and the consumers do, too, and I am optimistic we’ll overcome the problems,” she said. Cedar Valley Business