California leads nation in biotech crop research
JENNIFER COLEMAN, AP 1nov00

DAVIS, Calif. -- California researchers are in the forefront of agricultural biotechnology, but the commercial use of genetically modified crops is sparse in the state compared with the widespread use in the Midwest.

``That's kind of the paradox,'' said Kent Bradford, director of the seed biotechnology center at the University of California, Davis.

California's agriculture covers more than 250 crops, as opposed to the Midwest's reliance on corn and soybeans, said Judith Kjelstrom, associate director of the biotechnology center at UC Davis.

UC Davis officials estimate that within the nine-campus system there are 200 invention disclosures, the first step toward a patent, on agricultural biotechnology. About half of those are from UC Davis, said school spokeswoman Pat Bailey.

The international environmental group Greenpeace warned last week that if California farmers jump into genetically modified crops, it could harm the state's $26.8 billion agriculture economy.

Greenpeace looked at six of the state's agricultural products -- rice, walnuts, grapes, lettuce, strawberries and tomatoes -- that amount to $1.1 billion a year in exports to Japan, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong and Britain.

Consumers in those countries are reluctant to buy genetically engineered products, with some governments requiring labeling and others banning import altogether, said Jim Tischer, director of the Davis-based Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

The result, Tischer said, would be a glut of genetically modified products with no place to sell them.

California has a reputation for organic growing, which comprises a good portion of that $6.6 billion industry nationwide, he said.

While scientists are testing genetically modified strains of those crops, commercial use of the science in California is limited to cotton and a small percentage of corn, said Bradford, a professor of vegetable crops at UC Davis.

``We're behind the curve, since the companies mainly targeted the big crops like corn and soybean in the Midwest,'' he said.

Most of the crops that scientists have tinkered with are geared to making life easier for farmers, not consumers, Kjelstrom said.

``There are advances in herbicide-tolerant lettuce, but the industry isn't real excited about that,'' she said. ``They were hoping for something like golden rice that has increased vitamin A -- a poster child for biotechnology.''

Golden rice, genetically modified to contain extra beta carotene, is advertised as a way to reduce blindness brought on by a vitamin A deficiency, a condition that affects millions in Third World countries.

Kjelstrom said biotechnology is not only safe, but it has the potential to feed the world as the planet's population grows.

``We'll have to be able to grow on less-than-desirable land,'' she said. ``We're going to have to have new crops that can grow in salty or drought-stricken soil. We have to think of the future.''

Bradford believes the use of genetic modification in most crops is inevitable.

``Commercialization is still a few years off. All the industries involved want to make sure the public will accept it,'' he said. ``The problem now is marketing.''

• On the Net: University of California at Davis: http://www.dbs.ucdavis.edu