Brazil has started testing a variety of genetically modified wheat that is resistant to dry weather to try to become less dependent on wheat imports as global supplies tighten in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
According to researcher Jorge Lemainski, from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation ( Embrapa ), the agency has partnered with the Argentine company Bioceres, which developed this type of wheat.
Embrapa then received regulatory approval from the National Technical Biosafety Commission (CTNBio) in March this year and began planting the variety of food in test fields near Brasília, in the Cerrado, where farmers traditionally grow soybeans and corn .
Data on the development of food can be analyzed two months from now, in August.
Test planting began shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a major grain exporter, sent wheat prices to near record highs. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of soybeans, but is a net importer of wheat.
About 90% of the food that Brazil grows comes from the South, a region with a milder climate. Planting the crop further north could greatly increase the amount of wheat grown in Brazil, emphasizes Embrapa .
Where it comes from: learn about wheat production in Brazil
A recent survey showed that more than 70% of consumers in Brazil would consume GM wheat, a sign that opposition to GM crops is waning.
The government of President Jair Bolsonaro, allied with Brazil's powerful agricultural lobby, would like to reduce the country's dependence on wheat imports from neighboring Argentina and increase Brazil's cereal exports.
"Any potential commercial planting of transgenic wheat could still take about four years, pending results of planting tests and regulatory approvals," said Lemainski.
"It's one thing to do research and another to do extensive agriculture", he points out.
Problems in attempts
Previous attempts to develop genetically modified wheat have been problematic. Seed company Monsanto shelved plans to develop genetically modified wheat in the United States in 2004 over concerns about rejection from foreign buyers and fears that test plants could enter the food supply.
Japan stopped buying wheat from Canada in 2018 after grains containing a genetically modified trait were discovered in Alberta province.