Travelling scholars field report
Posted by: Aaron Edmonds	Date: 18 August 2003

Writing to you from Iowa, USA. And it is wall to wall corn and soybeans and looking pretty good I'd have to say. Most of it is GM! Went to a metting the other night with the Kansas Soybean Commission and listened to a presentation from the CEO of the United Soybean Board and also the head agriculture at the Kansas State Uni. The big issue right now is 'stacks'. Stacking multiple genes within crops. Gone are the days of single gene trangenic crops here in the US. In the future, the technology fee is going to be a function of how many technologies (modifications or genes) you want in your crop. The technology fee simply displaces a traditional or number of traditional input costs eg herbicides, insecticides, fungicides. And Muzza the big push with breeders right now is nutritional composition of the bean protein and bean oil.

Increasing protetin and improving the oleic composition of the oil. This makes it more nutritionally acceptable and suited for high temperature cooking (trans fatty acids are a big no no here in the States as from 2006 but everyone is reacting now due to litigation fears), and it also makes it more stable when used to make biodiesel. That dairy industry of yours can't afford to sit back and watch this issue. Just an opinion but I continue to get the feeling that the dairy sector particularly in value added foods is going to be the target with the nutritional manipulations they are able to do (CHEAPLY!). The soy biodiesel market is growing at a phenomenal rate here though which will get some of that cheap oil off the market. I have seen it at a number of petrol stations. The big plus with soy as opposed to canola is the net energy gain from one unit of invested energy. Obviously being a legume, soybean doesn't require any energetically expensive nitrogenous fertilizer. Our lupin industry in Australia had better wake up as well. We are getting half the price these guys are getting and it is not surprising that no-one wants to grow them back home.

Anyway, I had better run. Heading to Illinois tomorrow to go through a corn processing plant. Breeders are also nutritionally improving this crop transgenically. I was left to ponder the issue of food and food components as I visited a Wendy's restuarant. As I consumed the now overeaten and very boring lunch salad, I noticed that the ranch salad dressing I had was a concoction of soybean oil and protein, and corn starches and sugars, and the bacon bits I had topped it with were pure soybean protein and oil with artificial bacon flavouring. Sourcing non animal food components is certainly a effective way of ensuring you have the world's cheapest food. Is this important? It is significant to say the least. With the inevitability of the EU to lift its moretoreum on biotech food ingredients, the integrity of the 'avidly non GM' European public will be tested.

Food for thought! Looking into the future is a necessity for all agricultural commodities.