Greenpeace attack threatens soy exports

By TOM BUTTON

Greenpeace is helping Canadian soybean growers make big new sales to Europe. But next year, the group of international eco-activists threatens to become farmers' sworn enemy.

The reason is Roundup Ready soybeans. Norway, a traditional U.S. importer, has turned to Canada so it can be sure it won't get any beans that have had their DNA manipulated by bio-engineers.

Trade sources say grain merchant Louis Dreyfus shipped 25,000 tonnes of mainly Quebec soybeans to Norway earlier this month, with a value over $10 million.

Before the close of shipping, Norwegian exports could hit 130,000 tonnes, or 4.7 million bushels.

Earlier this fall Canada's embassy in Oslo asked the Ontario soybean marketing board to file documents assuring the Norwegians that none of the soybean varieties on the Ontario market contains the Roundup Ready or any other biotech gene. Greenpeace is now telling other European soybean buyers to import their soys from Canada instead of the U.S. Greenpeace says the potential market is 330 million bushels, more than four times Ontario's annual soy output.

Greenpeace has also joined forces with Jeremy Rifkin, whose Pure Food Campaign pushed the milk hormone bovine somatotropin (BST) onto front pages around the world.

Already, Rifkin has posed for televison cameras while dumping a load of soybeans at the door of the Chicago Board of Trade, and held a press conference at which EuroCommerce, a group of major European food wholesalers and retailers, told the U.S. it must segregate its Roundup Ready soybeans or risk losing all its European exports.

Rifkin promises to lead a boycott of Coca Cola, which uses corn-based sweetener made from U.S. corn, which he says is contaminated with genetically-engineered Bt hybrids.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace volunteers in plastic suits, goggles and masks painted a pink, 100-foot 'X' in an Iowa field of Roundup Ready soybeans. Greenpeace genetics specialist Beth Fitzgerald says they used the logo from the television show The X Files because "Monsanto is introducing alien species into the environment."

Greenpeace has also bought a full page ad in USA Today to warn consumers about the perils of genetic engineering.

Mary McNutt, spokesperson for Greenpeace Canada, says the protests will cross the border if Canada approves the use of Roundup Ready soybeans. Ottawa has already given the green light to the use of the Roundup Ready gene, and the first Roundup Ready soy varieties are expected to reach the market for 1997 planting.

"They're using consumers as guinea pigs," McNutt says. "We aren't saying Roundup Ready soybeans should be separately labelled. We're saying they shouldn't be grown at all."

McNutt says also that Greenpeace is afraid man-made genes will escape from soybeans and corn and get into wild plants, altering whole eco-systems. She knows that companies have filed reports saying that won't happen, "but what if they're wrong? How are we going to fix our mistakes?"

Karen Marshall, manager of public affairs for Monsanto in the U.S. says the Greenpeace "antics" have flopped. "We only got 25 calls in response to the USA Today ad, and about a fifth of those were from people saying the ad was the dumbest thing they've ever seen."

Monsanto won't respond with ads aimed at consumers, Marshall says. "Consumers understand that food is very well regulated," Marshall says. "They trust that process more than they trust Greenpeace."

Ciba Seeds, which launched Ontario's first bio-engineered crop with its Maximizer Bt corn hybrids last spring, hasn't been hit with negative reaction from consumers or processors, says Bruce Hunter, the company's research manager.

"As long as the assessments are done on a scientific instead of an emotional basis, the issue isn't an issue at all," Hunter says. "Our Bt technology is extremely safe."

The more that people know about bio-technology, Hunter says, the less they're worried. Hunter says new genes must survive exhaustive health and environmental testing before they can be planted.

Still, Greenpeace could open premium markets for some Ontario farmers. Gord Pryde of Hensall Co-op says the co-op wants to offer farm contracts for identity-preserved production of soybean varieties that aren't genetically modified.

The soys would mainly go to food buyers in the Pacific Rim, Pryde says.


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Spray-proof crops change the way you farm

For most corn and soybean growers, it's like being a kid all over again and having to wait for Santa Claus.

Soybean growers will soon be spraying their crops with Roundup and with a new herbicide called Reliance that would fry any of today's varieties.

Corn growers will be spraying Poast and Roundup, along with the new weed killer Liberty.

The era of herbicide-resistant crops is here - almost. Next spring farmers will see several key advances, and in 1998, the seed industry will have big supplies of the hottest new traits.

There's just enough time to sort out some of the implications, and to determine how these new varieties will force farmers to change the way they manage their crops.

While herbicide-resistant crops may help good corn and soybean growers become better, they'll add extra danger for sloppy farmers.

CORN: Pursuit
Pioneer officially launched the new herbicide-resistant era last spring with its IR hybrids, and more will be available this winter. The company is already selling more than one million acres of IR seed in the U.S.
There's also more competition. Zeneca is kicking off sales with three Imi-Primed hybrids priced with a $4.50-per-unit premium for the Pursuit resistant trait.
(The 'imi' in Imi-Primed and the 'I' in Pioneer's IR stand for imidazolinone, the name for Pursuit's chemical family.) Len Hawkins, Zeneca product manager for Canadian corn, says 40 per cent of the company's U.S. sales are Imi-Primed.
Cyanamid, which makes Pursuit, discovered the gene in the 1980s after dosing thousands of test-tube corn plants with tiny amounts of the herbicide. No biotechnology was used, so the company didn't need special approvals from health and food regulators.
U.S. sales are higher than had been projected.
Pursuit-resistant corn gives corn growers access to the spray that's widely considered best against some of the toughest broadleaf weeds, such as cocklebur. It also soothes the fears of corn growers who are suspicious about Pursuit carryover from their soybean crops.

SOYBEANS: Roundup
Here's the one everyone is waiting for. Several Roundup Ready soybean varieties are expected to clear the Canadian registration system in time for spring planting. Most companies, however, are still gearing up seed production, so sales will be limited.
Roundup Ready soybeans include a bacteria gene that makes them resistant to the popular, inexpensive herbicide.
Fields could be sprayed any time from pre-plant to canopy. Actually, they could be sprayed even later, since the crop would still be resistant, but weed control would drop off because it's harder to get spray to the weed.
"We're hoping to have introductory quantities available in 1997," says Alejandro Hernandez, soybean breeder for First Line Seeds. "I've never seen growers so excited."
Gord Froelich, Monsanto spokesman, says the company has already obtained approvals from Canada, the U.S., Japan and Europe for use of Roundup Ready soybeans in all food and feed applications.
Monsanto is also expecting that before next spring, the federal government will approve changes to the Roundup labelto permit spraying on soybeans.
Roundup is effective against most annuals and perennials, and has earned praise from environmentalists because it breaks down as soon as it touches the soil.
Roundup, however, has no residual activity. A single spray would have to be carefully timed: soon enough to kill early emerging weeds before they interfere with crop growth, but also late enough to catch late-emerging weeds such as fall panicum, as well as second flushes of ragweed.
Roundup is registered pre-plant with Pursuit, but rather than seek more tank-mixes with residual herbicides, Monsanto is asking the federal government for a label that will let farmers spray Roundup more than once, Froelich says.
That will boost Roundup sales. Froelich says it will also help farmers, since in most cases the tank mix partner would cost more than the Roundup repeat.
Monsanto has yet to decide how much premium to demand from each bag of Roundup Ready soybean seed. Froelich says it will likely be close to the US$5 per acre charged south of the border.
Farmers must also sign a technology use agreement when they buy seed, thereby promising they won't save any of the harvest for seed use.
Monsanto will be watching for illegal use, Froelich says. "We won't be driving around with binoculars, but we will be monitoring what's going on."
Froelich says Monsanto needs the premium to pay for its investment in developing Roundup Ready soybeans, and also to fund new biotech projects.
"Most farmers are honest, but not all of them," he says. If Monsanto finds farmers have planted bin-run Roundup Ready soybeans. "We will prosecute. We have no choice,"Froelich says.
Farmers will have longer to wait for Roundup Ready corn, with companies such as King Agro on target to start limited sales in 1998, with general release in 1999.
Roundup Ready canola will be on the market this spring, however, with a B. rapa variety from Zeneca, and B. napus lines expected for 1998.

CORN: Poast
Two new Dekalb hybrids for 1997 will give corn growers their first alternative to Ultim and Elim for post-emerge grass control.
The hybrids will be marketed under the name Poast-Compatible. Mike McGuire, general manager of Dekalb Canada, says the company has ordered winter production in Chile so it can launch them with between 500 and 1,000 units each.
Within three years, Dekalb and BASF, which makes Poast, expect Ontario corn growers will be planting "several hundred thousand acres," says David Hughes, BASF spokesman. Hughes says the package of the Dekalb hybrid with Poast will save corn growers about $5 an acre.
Hughes says Poast-Compatible corn will have a broad application window. The company has asked Ottawa to back spraying from the one to eight leaf stage. Hughes says crop safety is excellent throughout, with no danger from hot or cold weather.
For soybeans, the Ontario government's guide to weed control, Publication 75, rates Poast as excellent against a wide spectrum of annual grasses, including crab grass.
Hughes believes too that many corn growers will plant Poast-Compatible hybrids so they can reduce the number of ALS herbicides they spray, and thereby reduce the odds of getting resistant weeds. "Most farmers would rather give up Ultim in their corn than give up Pursuit for their soybeans."
BASF is seeking registration for Poast alone and in combination with a range of broadleaf killers. As well, the company will introduce Headline, a twin pack of Poast with BASF's own corn herbicide Laddok.

SOYBEANS: Reliance
Dupont is working toward a 1998 kick-off for Reliance, a new herbicide that will be safe on STS soybeans even though it's a sulfonyl urea, closely related to Ultim.
Several companies including First Line Seeds have soybean varieties in the pipeline. With seed multiplication under way, farmers could plant STS soybeans as soon as Reliance is registered.
Dupont is already selling the sulfonyl urea Pinnacle for post-emerge broadleaf control in soybeans, points out Kerry Teskey, product manager. The company expects, however, that more soybean growers will want to spray Reliance, made up of a blend of the active ingredient in Pinnacle plus an extra sulfonyl urea herbicide called chlorimuron ethyl.
The combination is too hot for current soybeans, but through an extensive soybean screening program, Dupont has isolated a gene that gives added crop safety. The gene is called STS, short for Sulfonyl-urea Tolerant Soybeans.
Teskey says STS soybeans will compete on price. "We're taking a different approach," Teskey says. "There will be no premiums on the seed...the STS system will be competitively priced."
Teskey believes soybean breeders will incorporate the STS gene into new soybean varieties for most maturities. He expects farmers will plant STS soybeans even if they don't intend to spray post-emerge, since there will be no extra cost for the STS gene, and it offers the safety of knowing Reliance could be sprayed for broadleaf control if weather works against pre-emerge herbicides.

CORN: Liberty
Few Ontario corn growers know the herbicide Ignite, even though it's been on the market several years. Manufacturer AgrEvo and several seed companies are betting farmers will get a lot more familiar with the herbicide with it's new name, Liberty.
Liberty-Link canola made history in 1995 as Canada's first biotech crop. Now, corn is playing catch-up.
Liberty is based on the active ingredient glufosinate ammonium, a chemical that gives Roundup-like weed control. The same active ingredient is already registered as Ignite for use in industrial weed control, as well as desiccating white beans and potatoes.
For 1998, several seed companies, including Pioneer, are planning to launch Liberty-resistant hybrids that will be called Liberty Link corn. Dekalb is developing its own gene, which may be available as early as 1998 and that would be identified as GR (short for glufosinate resistant) although court action between Dekalb and Liberty maker AgrEvo is pending.
Liberty has a different mode of action than Roundup, giving it a quicker kill and a slightly different weed spectrum, says Greig Zamicnik, AgrEvo product manager for eastern Canada. Essentially, Liberty will kill anything that's green that isn't protected with the resistant gene. It's not as effective at killing underground parts, so its control of perennial weeds isn't up to Roundup standards.
Zamicnik believes many corn growers will opt for a weed control program including both Liberty and Roundup. No-tillers, for instance, may spray Roundup pre-plant, and then come back late-post with Liberty to eliminate germinated weeds and also kill weeds such as dandelions that were missed by the Roundup.
Zamicnik says AgrEvo has invested millions in developing the Liberty Link gene, but that the company is offering it to plant breeders at effectively no cost.
AgrEvo will make its profits from sales of Liberty, not from sales of the gene, Zamicnik says.
AgrEvo expects seed companies will launch Liberty Link canola in eastern Canada in 1999, followed by Liberty Link soybeans in 2000.


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Stubble management no corn borer cure

By TOM BUTTON

If your neighbour hasn't plowed or chopped his corn stalks, is it time to start a feud?

Research is proving that fields with unchopped no-till stalks will produce a lot more egg-laying borer moths the following spring.

Actually, the new research is simply verifying a fact that our grandfathers were aware of. Back in the 1920s, when corn varieties were especially prone to borer damage, it was against the law to leave fields unplowed. Inspectors were hired, and they handed out stiff fines based on the amount of stalk left on the soil surface.

It's still illegal to ship a load of corn into New York State containing pieces of stalk longer than two inches, since it's feared they might contain borer larvae.

Today's borer experts, however, are telling no-tillers to leave their stalks alone. They point out it's a big leap from predicting how many borer moths a field will produce to forecasting how many eggs they'll lay in a specific field the following summer.

"We don't have any proof that can link one year's stalk management with the next year's damage from corn borers," says Art Schaafsma, corn researcher at Ridgetown college. "What we do have is pretty convincing proof that stalk chopping makes no-till soils cooler and wetter in the spring...I'd make my decision based on the factor I'm sure about rather than the ones I'm guessing at."

As fall turns to winter, corn borer larvae bore their way down into the corn stalk, to spend the winter protected from winds and predators.

Three-quarters of the larvae will be in the bottom 12 inches of stalk. The following spring, they'll pupate and then turn into the moths that will lay eggs in June and July.

Stalk chopping often kills about 85 per cent of borer larvae. If the mower is set to within two inches of the soil surface, control can reach into the 90s.

Nevertheless, some researchers believe that only two per cent of the larvae in a typical corn field need to survive to pose a serious threat to the following year's corn.

"Weather conditions at egg-laying are crucial," says Mark Sears, University of Guelph insect specialist. If the nights next spring are calm and dry, the moths will be able to perform their mating flights and then fly into corn fields to lay their eggs. If the weather is windy or rainy, their breeding success can be much lower.

A survey by a research team called the Corn Borer Action Coalition suggests that in 1996, about one-quarter of Ontario's corn stalks are probably host to at least one borer. See Table below for sample locations:

Home for the Winter
# of borers Town, County per 40 stalks
Aylmer, Elgin 11
London, Middlesex 9.5
Simcoe, Norfolk 9
Sebringville, Perth 18.5
Mossley, Oxford 15
Seaforth, Huron 36.5
Kincardine, Bruce 10
Elmvale, Simcoe 32.5
Lindsay, Victoria 21 Source: Corn Borer Action Coalition

If stalks are buried by a plow, the borers may smother or drown, or they may not be able to climb up to the surface the next spring.

Tests by Schaafsma at Ridgetown show that plowing cuts the number of adult moths that a field produces by over 90 per cent. See Table One.

Stalk chopping is almost as effective as plowing, and in Schaafsma's tests reduced moth output by about 85 per cent compared to unplowed and unchopped no-till fields.

Sears warns, however, that farmers shouldn't expect to be borer-free simply because they have plowed or chopped stalks. Borer moths can fly 15 miles or more, Sears says. "Adults that emerge from one field are likely to remain in the area, but there is considerable movement of moths over several square miles at least."

More important than whether your neighbour chopped stalks the previous fall may be how vigorously your corn crop is growing when the female moths start looking for egg-laying sites, Sears says.

Moths are attracted to early-planted fields that are taller than nearby fields, he says. Even for the second generation, with moth flights in July and early August, moths select corn fields that look the greenest.

Sears also points to a fundamental difference between corn borer and corn rootworm. Corn rootworm must feed on corn roots, so if you didn't have corn in your area last year, you won't have rootworm this year.

Corn borers, however, can thrive on a wide number of crops, ranging from green beans to peppers. They can also overwinter on weeds.

So even if every farmer in North America clean plowed every stalk of corn this fall, next year's crops could still be hit. Finally, Sears says that fields with high larvae numbers may not produce more damage the following year because the borers may be matched with an increase in the population of natural enemies.

Schaafsma adds that the management decision made on a particular field may be futile, depending on by the stalk choices that farmers have made through the rest of the township and county.

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Wet weather crushes grape harvest hopes

By SHANNON WILLIAMS

After 1995's vintage year popping the cork in the wine market, both growers and wineries are going to have to settle for second best this year.

Last year's was a bumper crop for grape growers across Ontario but bad weather across Ontario hampered the 1996 crop. "This season has been a tough one," says John Neufeld, who harvests 90 acres near Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Although 1996 grape volume is similar to last years' numbers, the quality has dropped. Last year was a vintage year, which means the sugar content in grapes was higher than the acid content, creating a better-quality grape.

"The quality is down somewhat from last year, but not as bad as 1993," says Neufeld. According to Ontario Grape Growers' Marketing Board statistics, 1993 was one of the worst production years. The total crop amounted to 33,929 tonnes whereas in 1995, it was 51,014 tonnes. Neufeld say the 1996 crop figures will be back to normal, averaging around the mid 40,000 tonne range.

"There has been too much rain and the temperatures have been low," he says.

Growers aren't the only ones who stand to lose from a poor crop. Wineries will also be affected. Seeing how last year was the best year on record, says Paul Speck, president of Henry of Pelham Family Estates, "there is absolutely no way the wine will have the same quality as last year's supply," But that doesn't mean the wine on the shelves in the stores is going to be bad, just that companies like Henry of Pelham will not be making "the super-expensive wines," says Speck. "In our case, less wine will be made" and in the long run, sold.

According to marketing board figures, 80.2 million litres of wine were sold in Ontario in 1994-95. The amount of Ontario wine sold in Ontario, which includes sales through the LCBO, winery retail stores, embassies, airlines and industrial sales, was 33.9 million litres, or 41 per cent of total sales. Sales for the 1996 year are expected to be down, but the industry doesn't know by how much.

Although wine sales may be reduced due to less production, the general sales trend of Ontario wines has been gaining speed. Total wine sales in Ontario increased by 3.6 per cent from 77.5 million litres in 1995, reversing a downward trend that started in 1988-89. Ontario wine sales increased by 3.5 per cent in 1995 with no change in Ontario's provincial market share.

"Momentum has been generating for years now," says Speck; 1995 jump-started the industry into a new quality level."

Since 1995, Ontario wine sales have been soaring. Last year, LCBO sales of Ontario wines grew by nine per cent, and in the first six months of 1996, sales increased by an additional 16 per cent.

"People continue to switch to Ontario-grown and made wines because consumers are realizing that Ontario wine is as good as or better than wine made in France, Spain or Italy," says Speck.

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