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For growers in the United States who are raising genetically modified crops, it’s not good news that the Europeans are suggesting new rules that would require the wider use of warning labels on foods along with a lot more red tape when importing our grains.
While Americans were hoping for new rules that would lead to the expansion of exports for crops grown with biotechnologies to Europe, the new rules may likely make the situation even worse. Look for these rules to lead to more trade disputes between major powers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Among those who will be hit hardest will be U.S. soybean growers, who have already seen their yearly exports to Europe cut from $2 billion 5 years ago to only $1 billion today due to earlier European rules against genetically modified crops such as Roundup Ready varieties.
The new rules include warning labels on cooking oil and livestock feed, two items that are largely produced from genetically modified soybeans. The new rules will require a paper trail on all food imports to document their genetic history leading all the way back to the U.S farm where the ingredients were grown. Many U.S. farm groups and grain exports say this requirement will be impossible to satisfy due to the way grains are co-mingled in North America.
Two different varieties of Clearfield wheat will be available to growers next year. This imidazolinone-tolerant wheat is being developed using traditional plant breeding techniques.