Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

LINCOLN, Neb. - Europeans may be on the verge of reassessing their long-held resistance to genetically modified crops, and Nebraska could play a role in that shift, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln plant geneticist said.

Sally Mackenzie, who directs UNL's Center for Plant Science Innovation, recently returned from trip to Brussels, Belgium, as part of a delegation led by Gov. Dave Heineman. The trip came at the invitation of Neil Parish, chairman of the European Union's agriculture committee, who visited Nebraska last spring.

Parish, one of the EU's leading advocates of genetically modified crop technology, visited several Nebraska sites in May. In part, he was interested in how American farmers have integrated biotechnology into crop production.

Heineman, Mackenzie and others in the Nebraska delegation continued the discussion of biotechnology during their visit to Brussels, which included testimony before the EU Parliament's Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, visits to farms and discussions with a number of European officials.

Europeans' widespread opposition to biotechnology may be softening in light of economic pressures and the success other parts of the world have had incorporating the technology into ag production, Mackenzie said.

“With so many changes emerging in the world's economy, resource distribution, climate and food supply, this may be the time when the public reassesses previous opinions regarding the integration of biotechnologies into our agricultural system,” Mackenzie said in her testimony to the EU Parliament committee.

Mackenzie shared with the committee examples of how university research has played a key role in incorporating biotechnology into agricultural production in Nebraska and elsewhere.

“It was my sense that many parliament members had something of a skewed perspective” of biotechnology in the United States, Mackenzie said in an interview after returning from Brussels. Many believed it was controlled by large industry “to the detriment of the American public and the agricultural producers.”

Committee members were surprised and impressed by the partnerships UNL has formed with biotechnology companies to bring new technologies to market, Mackenzie said. That public-private partnership model has worked well in the United States, she added.

Mackenzie said the Nebraska delegation told skeptics that “growers truly embrace the technology and feel comfortable with the technology.”

In fact, most American producers are so sold on biotechnology that they're now pressing researchers for new developments, she said.

“Growers are a fairly discriminating group. They take the technologies they see as beneficial and they reject those they don't,” Mackenzie said.

Some European policymakers are concerned that their countries' resistance to genetically modified foods has left them behind other parts of the world, including the United States, Brazil, China and Australia.

“They seem to be grasping for a different model,” she said. “I won't say it's right around the corner, but I think they're reassessing (their opposition to biotechnology).”

Nebraska producers and UNL scientists may get a chance to contribute to this reassessment. Heineman invited the whole committee to visit Nebraska to learn more. Mackenzie said she thinks at least some members will accept.

The delegation also included representatives of the Nebraska Corn Board, Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Nebraska Beef Council and other agriculture industry leaders.

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