The prospect of a California company setting up rice farming and processing operations in Missouri has some area rice farmers concerned. Seven counties in Southeast Missouri accounted for more than 99 percent of the state's rice crop just two years ago, including Dunklin County, Butler County, New Madrid County, Pemiscot County, Ripley County, Scott County, and Stoddard County.
Paul Combs of Kennett, who serves on the executive committee of the USA Rice Federation, called the prospects of the Ventria Bioscience Company from Sacramento, Cali. farming about 200 acres in Southeast Missouri a bad deal.
The primary concern farmers have expressed is the possible contamination that genetically modified rice, grown for pharmaceutical purposes, may cause to rice grown for food.
"Companies like Gerber and Kelloggs," Combs said, "as well as European companies, want the rice they purchase to be certified that it has not been genetically modified." Even if our rice, i.e., rice grown in the United States, has not been genetically modified, these companies probably want to avoid even the slightest possibility that it has been contaminated by genetically modified rice, Combs continued.
Not only do these companies want to avoid this possibility, Combs said area farmers are even concerned by the perception that the possibility of such contamination exists, whether it exists in reality or not. Perception can have a significant impact on the behavior of those who purchase rice from the United States, Combs said.
Apparently, these kinds of concerns prompted officials in California to make growing the GMO rice in that state very difficult, or to say the least restrictive. The Commission narrowly approved certain planting guidelines for growing GMO rice. Included in those guidelines was a provision that the rice be grown at least 300 miles from rice grown for food.
Still, concerns in California have not been abated. In a story published by Mercury News in California, Renata Brillinger of Californians for GE-Free Agriculture [Genetically Engineered-Free], said "Contamination is inevitable under this protocol and the CRC did not act in the best interests of California rice farmers or consumers."
State Representative Otto Bean raised similar concerns in a letter sent to fellow law makers. "While I support genetically modified crops, and support research into improved crop varieties, I believe it is imperative that such research be done in a way that does not penalize surrounding growers," Bean said.
Bean also said in the letter that several leaders and farmers in the rice industry from the Bootheel have contacted him to express their concern and opposition to a bio-tech company setting up farming operations in Southeast Missouri.
Larry Riley, a member of the Missouri Rice Council, expressed grave concern that the Ventria company may be allowed to grow pharmaceutical rice in Southeast Missouri.
Riley said "The USDA [United States Department of Agriculture] has adopted a no-tolerance policy regarding pharmaceutical rice. They do not want to have to deal with GMO [genetically modified organisms] rice possibly contaminating rice grown for food," he said.
According to a story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Rice Growers Association recently passed a resolution calling for restrictions on the cultivation of "pharm" crops. That newspaper reported that Greg Yielding, executive director of the association, said plans in Missouri to grow rice "engineered with human genes" prompted the concern.
According to the director of the Arkansas State Plant Board, Darryl Little, exports of rice from Arkansas to other countries require certification "that no GMO rice is in commercial production in Arkansas."
Contamination involving two genetically engineered food crops has already occurred, according to the Gazette. It occurred in 2000 and in 2002 the newspaper said.
In 2002, corn engineered to produce a vaccine for pigs was discovered in a soybean crop headed for a grain elevator.
Also, according to Combs, the Anheuser Busch Company has expressed concern regarding GMO rice.
Sonny Martin, a Bernie, Mo. rice farmer, said, "What happens when birds eat this rice?" Martin then observed that undigested rice passed through birds could likely land on rice cropland not originally planted with pharm rice, germinate and grow to be harvested by unsuspecting farmers along with rice intended for food.
David Guethle of the Missouri Cooperative Extension Service echoed Combs' concern that just as important for Missouri farmers as actual contamination is the perception of contamination, however true or false.
"It's very competitive out there," he said, "and it's conceivable there could be false accusations that could harm our prices and benefit someone else's."
Guethle also said political pressures from countries like Japan, eager to protect domestic rice farmers, could depress American rice prices or even initiate an embargo of the products.
Apparently, there is no real evidence to suggest that rice grown by the Ventria company is harmful to human consumption. The varieties they grow have not been approved for human consumption, however.
The Ventria Bioscience Company is located in Sacramento and has three permit requests pending with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Biotechnology Regulatory Services to grow close to 200 acres of GMO rice in Southeast Missouri this year.
Reportedly, the company also plans to build a processing facility somewhere in Northwest Missouri.
Some information for this story provided by the S.E. Mo. News Service.