Treatment for cystic fibrosis from corn? Potatoes that produce an antibacterial protein for use in cosmetics?

Welcome to what could be the future of pharming.

One of the growers at the Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum was Bill Horan, COO of Horan BioProduction in Rockwell City, Iowa. Bill, who is also chairman of Truth About Trade and Technology, talked about how he got into the business of growing pharmaceuticals. “About 11 years ago we started with a French company,” he said. “They had inserted canine lipase into a corn plant to produce a lipase for cystic fibrosis patients.”

Bill and his brother Joe farm over 4,000 acres of corn in northwest Iowa and he says they are currently the only commercial farmers that he knows of producing pharmaceuticals. “It’s very difficult to get permits from USDA to grow these biologics,” he said, noting that because they have been working at it now for over a decade they know how to get it done.

Listen to some of Bill’s comments here: Iowa Farmer Bill Horan