The Supreme Court will soon make a decision on whether or not farmers can grow biotech alfalfa – and it could ultimately impact other genetically modified crops.
That’s why the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and several other agricultural organizations have filed an amicus curiae brief with the court in the case of “Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms” regarding Roundup Ready® alfalfa.
The groups urge that the lower courts’ decision to approve an injunction without adequately hearing the key evidence must be reversed “to protect the farmers who choose to grow genetically-engineered crops, as well as the public benefits that agricultural biotechnology brings to producers and consumers around the world.” They argue that USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has studied Roundup Ready® alfalfa and found no significant human environment impact and has recommended that farmers be allowed to grow it. APHIS just recently concluded a comment period on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the crop.
This case is important case because it marks the first time the high court has weighed in on the risks of genetically engineered crops. It is scheduled for oral argument on April 27 and a decision is expected from the Court by June.
The U.S. Grains Council (USGC ) made a significant announcement during a press conference at Commodity Classic last week with the announcement of key speakers for the upcoming Global Food Security Symposium, which is sponsored by the organization. USGC Chairman Rick Fruth confirmed that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is expected to deliver the keynote address at the symposium, scheduled for April 7, 2010, in Tokyo, Japan. This announcement came shortly after the Global Food Security Symposium was formally introduced in Tokyo by USGC President and CEO Thomas C. Dorr and U.S. Ambassador to Japan John V. Roos.
The Symposium will gather U.S. and Japanese government, agribusiness and biotechnology leaders for a first-ever, day-long examination of how international cooperation, policy and technology can be used to feed a burgeoning world population. More specifically, Fruth said, “The key points of discussion will be, how to leverage biotechnology and other emerging technologies to improve the quality of life and global economy, how the world’s economic powers can harness these technologies for the benefits of developing countries around the world and how can we build upon this these past successes to increase food security around the world.”
Fruth also noted that sustainability and biotechnology are an inherent part of this symposium as you can’t have global food security without using biotechnology or develop new technologies that are not sustainable.
The Symposium is part of the “Partners in Agriculture” series of events being held throughout Japan from March through May of 2010. The “Partners in Agriculture” events celebrate the successful, enduring agricultural trade partnership between the United States and Japan. This event goes hand-in-hand with the mission of USGC which is to develop overseas markets for U.S. corn, barley and sorghum and enbable trade around the world for these commodities.
Yong says the key one for him was seeing the pace at which people are doing plant and animal research and picking up new technologies. He says it was easy to see it at the conference with not only the researchers in attendance but also in the exhibitors space with the growth of vendors coming to the show.
Fluidigm conducted a workshop titled, “Enabling High Sample Throughput SNP Genotyping for Plant and Animal Studies.” Speakers included Curt Van Tassell, USDA-ARS, Bovine Testing; Jim Seeb, University of Washington, Salmon Conservation and Nanne Faber, Enza Zaden, Seed Quality Control. Yong says they had great attendance and are planning on conducting a workshop like this at future conferences.
Fluidigm was also an exhibitor and Yong says the show once again proved a great place for the company to be. He said that they had a lot of interaction with people who were not familiar with their system that includes SNP genotyping and a new product line that does sample preparation for next generation sequencing. He feels very optimistic for the future after Fluidigm acquired recent new customers, USDA-ARS and Bayer CropScience.
It looks like AgWired sponsor, Fluidigm Corporation, is making some new inroads into the agricultural sector with their announcement that “USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has purchased a Fluidigm microfluidic-based EP1™ System to help develop and validate focused 96- and 384-SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) panels for testing America’s dairy and beef cattle. To ensure healthy cows and top quality product.”
ARS scientists are collaborating with leading members of the U.S. biotechnology industry to develop low-cost, high-throughput SNP panels that can genetically indicate cattle growth rates, disease resistance, milk productivity, health and longevity. To date ARS has studied over 100 of the more than 50,000 previously discovered genetic markers for cattle. The project’s goal is to turn out healthier cows that produce higher-quality milk and meat for consumers while also preserving the viability of the country’s thousands of cattle ranchers and dairy farmers. Validated SNP panels are expected to be utilized routinely in livestock breeding management. There are approximately nine million dairy cows and 35 million beef cattle in the United States (more…)
The 18th International Plant and Animal Genome Conference is about to take place January 9-13 at the Town & Country Convention Center in San Diego, California and AgWired sponsor Fluidigm will be there. In fact they will be conducting one of the workshops titled, “Enabling High Sample Throughput SNP Genotyping for Plant and Animal Studies.”
It will be held on Tuesday, January 12, from 1:30 – 3:50 PM in the Town & Country Royal Palm Salon 1, 2, 3 rooms. Speakers include Curt Van Tassell, USDA-ARS, Bovine Testing; Jim Seeb, University of Washington, Salmon Conservation and Nanne Faber, Enza Zaden, Seed Quality Control.
You can find Fluidigm in booth 126, featuring the Fluidigm EP1™ system for high throughput SNP genotyping and digital PCR. If you’ve been following our interviews with Fluidigm, you’ll know what all this means by now! You can find stories about how Fluidigm is assisting in ag biotech by clicking here and here.
I spoke with Fluidigm’s Product Manager, Yong Yi, about the PAG Conference and the company’s involvement with it since its inception. He says the PAG is an opportunity for people doing plant and animal research to get together and share information. Genetic research is one of the top areas of focus and that’s where the Fluidigm System really has an application. Yong says their exhibit will help demonstrate their technology and their workshop will feature three of their customers who will discuss real world examples of how they use it.
Although many old school environmentalists are now embracing genetically engineered crops, GMO’s continue to be a hot topic and one that impacts agribusiness, especially in the area of international trade. In this installment of our interviews with Fluidigm Corporation you’ll hear how their system can play a key role in assisting companies involved in biotechnology and therefore today’s farmers.
To learn about using the Fluidigm System for GMO detection I spoke with Ramesh Ramakrishna, Director of Molecular Biology. He makes a point that modifying plants and animals genetically is not something new. It has in fact been going on for centuries. However, today’s biotech processes speed things up significantly and it is very important to have measurement tools that provide quick, reliable results. That’s where tools like the Fluidigm System can have a very positive benefit since the system allows for faster measurements and at a significant reduction in cost.
You can watch or listen to my interview with Ramesh below:
In this latest edition of the stories about Fluidigm Corporation you’ll get to meet Amy Hamilton, Technical Support Specialist. Amy works in the lab at Fluidigm headquarters. She walks us through a workflow of the Fluidigm System.
As you’ll see in the video, the size and scale of equipment needed for the Fluidigm System to conduct many different simultaneous samples in a project is much smaller than you would normally find in a research lab today. This is why the company would like to talk to ag bio researchers since the system is more efficient and can produce big savings in the long run.
With a title like Director of Molecular Biology you might think that it would be hard for a non-technical person to carry on a conversation with Ramesh Ramakrishna. Not so. Ramesh works for Fluidigm Corporation and is my latest interview in the series we’re doing to introduce the agribusiness world to their break through research technology.
In our interview you’ll learn about SNP genotyping and microsats. What are they you ask? Watch or listen to the interview and learn. Ramesh says his team is responsible for developing applications where the Fluidigm System can be used and one of those areas is genotyping. You can learn more about genotyping in this Science magazine article. If this sounds very technical, don’t worry. Ramesh defines genotyping, SNP’s and microsats for you.
He offers as an example of why this is important in today’s agricultural biotechnology the fact that a farmer or researcher really needs to be sure that something they are planting or working on (plant or animal) is really what it is represented to be. This type of genetic analysis allows for that surety. You can be sure this is important with so many new seed varieties and the desire to be able to track the source for a certain product. The Fluidigm System, unlike other methods to accomplish the above, is extremely flexible and allows for very small volumes and costs.
You can watch or listen to my interview with Ramesh below:
When it comes to research and development at Fluidigm Corporation, one of the key people involved is Andy May. In my interview with him he puts the high level technology Fluidigm develops into easy to understand terms. You’ll find out why this is necessary when we get into the whole DNA sequencing issue and how Fluidigm has pioneered some of the latest mechanisms to work with it. Forward a link to the interview to your favorite R&D’er!
Andy says there are two main products they’ve been developing. One of them is called Slingshot which he says is a very accurate method of measuring concentrations of DNA samples. The other product, which his group is focused on, is called AccessArray which streamlines the preparation of small regions of DNA for sequencing using the current generation of sequencing platforms. He says there has been a huge change in the technology used for DNA sequencing in recent years and people are looking for new ways and improved methods for introducing samples into those instruments. Like the whole Fluidigm System, these products help streamline the work flow and in fact are more production devices than just measurement devices.
The new Fluidigm products have been developed in conjunction with early access clients and several systems have been sold and are now available via general release.
You can watch or listen to my interview with Andy below:
The Fluidigm System starts with their Integrated Fluidic Circuits. The Product Manager who is intimately familiar with the IFC’s is Yong Yi. I spoke with him about this system and he helps explain what the IFC’s do and can do for a client company. In the picture he’s holding one of their chips containing an IFC.
It’s all about miniaturization and therefore efficiency which is particularly important in ag bio since you’re dealing with a tremendous number of samples and wide variety of species and applications. The company manufacturers the chips or IFC’s for their clients. The chips are built on semiconducter technology which uses silicon chips that allow them to be very precise. Yong says they work with a wide variety of clients including seed companies who want to use it for quality control to make sure their farmer customer is getting exactly what is ordered.
The IFC’s have become increasingly complex since they first started production and Yong says that will continue. So the chips will be able to handle increasingly complex functions as time goes on.
You can watch or listen to my interview with Yong below:
At the World Food Prize Forum in Des Moines on Thursday, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates spoke out in support of biotechnology to help feed the world.
“We have to develop crops, including new inputs to go with them that can grow in a drought,” Gates said. “We have to have crops that can survive a flood, that can resist pests and new diseases. We need higher yields on the same land, despite more difficult weather. And we will never get there without a continuous and urgent, science-based search to increase productivity, especially focused on the needs of small farms in the developing world.”
Gates took environmentalists to task for having an idealistic attitude that jeopardizes the ability of developing countries to grow enough food. “They have tried to restrict the spread of biotechnology into sub-Saharan Africa without regard to how much hunger and poverty might be reduced by it.”
While Gates said that major breakthroughs in the fight against hunger and poverty are now within reach, he cautioned that progress toward alleviating global hunger is “endangered by an ideological wedge that threatens to split the movement in two.” On one side, he said, there are groups that support technological solutions to increase agricultural productivity without proper regard to environmental and sustainability concerns. On the other, there are those who react negatively to any emphasis on productivity.
“It’s a false choice, and it’s dangerous for the field,” Gates said. “It blocks important advances. It breeds hostility among people who need to work together. And it makes it hard to launch a comprehensive program to help poor farmers. The fact is, we need both productivity and sustainability—and there is no reason we can’t have both.”
Let’s put this in the Blog Action Day Climate Change category under the topic of Food Production. We can have both – productivity and long term sustainability. In fact, we already do have both here in the United States. The majority of our nation’s farms are models of both productivity and sustainability for the world. We are using less land, less fertilizer, and less energy to produce more food than ever before. If developing nations are able to utilize biotech crops, we can and will be able to feed the billion people across the globe who are suffering from malnutrition, as well as the increasing global population. I’m not a big fan of Bill Gates, but I have to applaud him today for standing up to radical environmentalists who want us to move backward instead of forward.
Farmers from around the globe gathered in Des Moines this week to participate in the 2009 Global Farmer-to-Farmer Roundtable, which is held in conjunction with the World Food Prize and hosted by Truth About Trade and Technology.
The group honored one of their own today with the 2009 Kleckner Trade & Technology Advancement Award which recognizes a farmer for “exemplary leadership, vision and resolve in advancing the rights of all farmers to choose the technology and tools that will improve the quality, quantity and availability of agricultural products around the world.”
This year’s honoree is Jim McCarthy, a farm manager from Ireland whose agricultural interests span three continents – Europe, South America and North America. He says it is frustrating that he is unable to use biotechnology-based crops in his farming operation in Ireland, but can in other areas. “The environmental benefit of GM (genetically modified) crops is staggering,” he said, as he made comparisons between the farm operations he’s involved with in Ireland and Argentina. He says wildlife numbers are much higher in the South America farm operation because fewer pesticides are used because of Bt traits in the crops. “We’re not using huge amounts of organophosphates, so the food chain is not being interrupted for the wildlife,” he said.
Closer to home, McCarthy is one of a group of farmers that invested in a grass-based dairy in southern Missouri. He is the third recipient of the Kleckner Trade and Technology Advancement Award, which was established in 2007 in honor of Dean Kleckner, the founder and chairman of Truth About Trade and Technology.
The man who is guiding the marketing efforts for Fluidigm is Howard High. He is the man who found AgWired and contacted us about helping introduce the company to the agribusiness community. That’s because he recognizes the community that we’ve developed. He says they want to communicate with people in agribusiness “where they are.” That is what the whole new media strategy is all about.
During a day in Fluidigm headquarters in South San Francisco I spoke with Howard about why he contacted us and what the company hopes to accomplish with our project. He says that agribusiness is a critical business for them. They’ve been working more with pure research companies up to this point but he says agricultural research comprises high volumes of samples and testing and that’s where they believe they offer the industry some significant advantages.
When it comes to selecting AgWired he says they are looking at our company as “their tour guides” since the industry has its own language, customs and culture. I like that idea of being a “trusted guide.” So it puts the burden on us to show them how to be effective and translate what they do to what the industry needs. He believes that as we do that we will accelerate the timetable for what they want to achieve. Our mechanisms also provide ways for reverse communication from the audience (so I hope you’ll provide some feedback to Fluidigm).
You can learn a lot more about the technology offered by Fluidigm by visiting their website where you’ll also find several opportunities to communicate with them. Here’s where you can find an overview of their technology.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.
Let me introduce you to Fluidigm. This company develops and distributes systems based on integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs). During the coming weeks we’ll learn more about them and how their products and systems can benefit the agribusiness sector.
I’ll be visiting Fluidigm headquarters this week to learn more about the company and their products and conduct interviews which will be featured here on AgWired. I know we’ll be dealing with some complex technology but yours truly will work to help make it understandable since it seems clear that what Fluidigm has to offer agriculture, especially from the biotechnology standpoint, is very important.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today presented the annual George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology to DuPont Chairman of the Board Charles (Chad) O. Holliday, Jr., recognizing his commitment to industrial biotechnology as a tool for sustainable business growth. The award was given during the 2009 World Congress underway in Montreal with more than 1,100 attendees.
Chad Holliday with the GWCarver award and Mark Wright of Iowa State, the recipient of the Carver scholarship
The George Washington Carver Award was created in honor of George Washington Carver, who attended Iowa State University, and honors individuals in the private industry, government or academia who have made a significant contribution to the economic and innovative growth of the biotech industry. In addition, the efforts of the individual must focus on environmentally sustainable processes – more critical now than ever.
“Many of the technologies here today will help us address climate change,” said Holliday. He noted that while this is not the only issue facing the world today, it was one of the most critical and is confident that biotech companies, through innovation, will help to alleviate the issue.
Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section, said, “BIO is pleased to recognize the contributions to the field of industrial biotechnology and outstanding accomplishments of DuPont Chairman Chad Holliday.”
Erickson continued, “George Washington Carver is considered one of the founding fathers of modern industrial biotechnology. Following his legacy, industrial biotechnology companies today are developing new methods to use renewable agricultural resources to manufacture fuels, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food ingredients. The field has developed in ways that Carver may never have imagined, but the work of industrial biotech companies remains true to the goal of a sustainable agricultural economy that includes production of useful everyday products.”
Holliday noted that he was “deeply honored” to recieve the award that recognizes and promotes the work toward the goal of developing new, sustainable products and technologies to help make peoples’ lives around the world more secure.
Accompanying the award is a George Washington Carver scholarship given in the name of Charles O. Holliday, Jr., to Iowa State University graduate student Mark Wright, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Biorenewable Resources and Technology. The award is sponsored by DSM, the Iowa Biotechnology Association and the Iowa Department of Economic Development.
I’ll take the opportunity to post a photo of my main man, Pope Benedict XVI anytime. Thanks to Terry Wanzek who grows corn, soybeans, and wheat on his family farm in North Dakota and serves as a North Dakota Senator and board member of Truth About Trade & Technology, for a great letter.
In it he mentions that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has given it’s blessing to genetically modified crops as one solution to world hunger. Here’s the first two statutes of the Academy:
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, founded by Pius XI of hallowed memory, is placed under the exalted and direct protection of the reigning Supreme Pontiff.
The aim of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and the study of epistemological problems related thereto.
Here are a couple of excerpts from Terry’s letter:
There are some people around the world who think religion and science shouldn’t get along. For some reason, they believe the men of the cloth should disagree with the men of the lab coat, now and forever.
They’ll be disappointed to learn that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences–an arm of the Vatican–has given its blessing to genetically modified crops. At a conference last month in Rome, it praised GM food for holding “a great potential to improve the lives of the poor.”
This is a welcome marriage of religion and science–two powerful forces joining for the good of all.
Farming is my profession. But it’s more than a job–it’s a vocation. The Catholic Church teaches us to show benevolence toward the poor, and to feed them when they are hungry. One of the best ways I can realize this goal is to grow as much food as possible and to make it available at the most reasonable prices. I believe it is important that all farmers, especially the resource-poor smallholders, have the right to choose the best technology available, including biotechnology when appropriate, to improve their hope of producing more food for themselves.
Are GM foods dangerous, as so many Europeans have been told? “No substantiated environmental or health risks have been noted,” says the academy. “Opposition to biotechnology in agriculture is usually ideological.”
I’m also glad to see that science and religion can agree and even in the face of extreme emotionalism with a political agenda.
You can find out what biotech is doing to help the Earth today by texting biotech to 77513. It’s an Earth Day think being produced by the Biotechnology Industry Organization. You can find out a lot more on their website. WhatCanBiotechDoForYou.com is part of a project sponsored by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), designed to foster a conversation with the general public about biotechnology and further educate people about the contributions of this innovative sector. For more in-depth information on biotech and the people behind the science, please visit our sister site – www.IAmBiotech.org.
I spoke with Paul Willems, BP Energy Biosciences Institute, one of our speakers at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. I had met him previously at an earlier conference in the series.
Paul says the BP Energy Biosciences Institute was created as a place to apply modern biology to energy problems. He told us that from their perspective, the turbulant times we’re in right now are temporary and that the fundamental trends for the future are unchanged. Those being the supply of oil and gas and the growth and demand for energy products. He says that their CEO likes to say that, “the future has been delayed, it hasn’t been canceled.”
I think he made a good point in my interview with him that we shouldn’t panic. He says there are numerous technology efforts going on in the alternative fuels industry and that it would be a mistake to see that work evaporate because we live in a world of crisis. He urges a steady course toward the future. He also talks about the benefits of biotechnology in developing more efficient alternative fuel production but points out that the industry is still just in its infancy.
You can listen to my interview with Paul here:
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There’s a great post on I Am Biotech about birthday boy, Norman Borlaug. He’s a Nobel Laureate and 95 years old today. Visit the post and leave him a message in the comments (you may comment here too).
Today is the 95th birthday of Norman Borlaug, an agricultural scientist who is widely known as the father of the Green Revolution. Dr. Borlaug, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work on world hunger, is credited with saving over 1 billion lives from starvation through his tireless efforts to improve world food production through biotechnology. Dr. Borlaugh is one of only five people in history to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
For Norman Borlaug’s 95th birthday today, Monsanto has created a $10 million grant to establish the Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program, which will “help identify and support young scientists interested in improving research and production in rice and wheat, two of the world’s most important staple crops, through plant breeding techniques.”
Monsanto is funding the program, which will be administered by Texas AgriLife Research, an agency of the Texas A&M University System, for the next five years. The program honors the accomplishments of Dr. Henry Beachell and Dr. Norman Borlaug, who pioneered plant breeding and research in rice and wheat, respectively.
Applications will be reviewed by an independent panel of global judges chaired by Program Director Dr. Ed Runge, who is also a professor and Billie B. Turner Chair in Production Agronomy (Emeritus) within the Soil and Crop Sciences Department, Texas A&M University at College Station.
Students interested in applying to the program can find more details at www.monsanto.com/mbbischolars. Applications will be accepted until May 31.
Announcement of the first year’s winners is planned to correspond with the World Food Prize held in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 15, 2009.
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
The Supreme Court will soon make a decision on whether or not farmers can grow biotech alfalfa – and it could ultimately impact other genetically modified crops.
and 
The 
It looks like AgWired sponsor, 
With a title like Director of Molecular Biology you might think that it would be hard for a non-technical person to carry on a conversation with Ramesh Ramakrishna. Not so. Ramesh works for 
When it comes to research and development at 
The 
Gates took environmentalists to task for having an idealistic attitude that jeopardizes the ability of developing countries to grow enough food. “They have tried to restrict the spread of biotechnology into sub-Saharan Africa without regard to how much hunger and poverty might be reduced by it.”
Farmers from around the globe gathered in Des Moines this week to participate in the 2009 Global Farmer-to-Farmer Roundtable, which is held in conjunction with the World Food Prize and hosted by 
This year’s honoree is Jim McCarthy, a farm manager from Ireland whose agricultural interests span three continents – Europe, South America and North America. He says it is frustrating that he is unable to use biotechnology-based crops in his farming operation in Ireland, but can in other areas. “The environmental benefit of GM (genetically modified) crops is staggering,” he said, as he made comparisons between the farm operations he’s involved with in Ireland and Argentina. He says wildlife numbers are much higher in the South America farm operation because fewer pesticides are used because of Bt traits in the crops. “We’re not using huge amounts of organophosphates, so the food chain is not being interrupted for the wildlife,” he said. 
The man who is guiding the marketing efforts for 
During a day in Fluidigm headquarters in South San Francisco I spoke with Howard about why he contacted us and what the company hopes to accomplish with our project. He says that agribusiness is a critical business for them. They’ve been working more with pure research companies up to this point but he says agricultural research comprises high volumes of samples and testing and that’s where they believe they offer the industry some significant advantages. 
I’ll take the opportunity to post a photo of my main man, Pope Benedict XVI anytime. Thanks to Terry Wanzek who grows corn, soybeans, and wheat on his family farm in North Dakota and serves as a North Dakota Senator and board member of 
You can find out what biotech is doing to help the Earth today by texting biotech to 77513. It’s an Earth Day think being produced by the Biotechnology Industry Organization. You can find out a lot more on their website.
I spoke with Paul Willems, BP Energy Biosciences Institute, one of our speakers at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. I had met him previously at an earlier conference in the series.
For Norman Borlaug’s 95th birthday today, Monsanto has created a $10 million grant to establish the Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program, which will “help identify and support young scientists interested in improving research and production in rice and wheat, two of the world’s most important staple crops, through plant breeding techniques.”
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
