I attended the Wyoming Wheatgrowers meeting today.  One speaker was promoting biotech wheat, without much opposition from the group, mostly just mumbling in groups at tables.

It is obvious why the seed dealers in the group want biotech wheat, but is there really that much in it for the farmer?  The charts and graphs show a steady increase in corn and soybean yields, with some increase in wheat yields but the lines were considerably flatter.

The speaker's speal was that the US needs to be a reliable source of wheat for the world market; graphs show a decline in acres - but I don't recall that much of a wheat shortage in the US.  When reminded that more supply brings less return/bu, the speaker "countered" that his point was that we had good wheat prices in '08 because there was a wheat shortage around the world and the US had wheat to sell in that market.  ??????  HELLO, is anyone there?

I can understand some his concern that China and some other countries are making a big effort to produce biotech wheat and if they do, the US may no longer be a player in the market unless we have the quantity to compete.  My concern is not whether we have the quantity to compete, but whether we have the profit margin to compete.  These university types often fail to consider cost into their analysis - the familiar information≠knowledge≠wisdom≠forsight issue.

I understand that the big Monopoly is buying up all of the germ plasm sources they can get their hands on.  They are trying to get the land-grant colleges to release their farmer/taxpayer funded germ plasm and technology pools to them.  There is an effort abound to insist that our land-grant colleges ONLY EXCHANGE access to the plasm and technology pools - if you want ours, release yours.  I think we should be contacting our colleges and universities demanding that our investments in crop production and improvement be protected.

Have you guys biotech growers seen a substantial return from biotech or are you merely trading more dollars, with the dealers and suppliers seeing the only substantial benefit?

Do you see additional problems with chemical resistance in weeds?  Are we apt to need to deal with glyphosate resistant jointed goatgrass and rye?  Actually, I think I'm seeing it in rye at this time.  We were told today that since wheat is self pollinated we will not see the cross pollination problems seen in corn, and especially in alfalfa.  Should we be concerned?

Should we continue to fight biotech wheat as we have in the past?  Will fighting biotech wheat be a lost cause, will the monopoly dominate?