GRAIN | Imprimer

This company has no shame. While US rice farmers scramble to deal with widespread GM contamination from Bayer CropScience's GM rice, in Asia, the German-based chemical company is planning to expand its hybrid rice seed business.

On August 18 the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that trace amounts of an unapproved GM rice variety engineered by Bayer were found in rice storage bins in the states of Arkansas and Missouri. The news led to an immediate collapse in markets for US rice. "This is real money that farmers are losing," Arkansas Rice Growers Association executive director Greg Yielding told Reuters.

Bayer's Liberty Link rice, which is genetically modified to resist the company's glufosinate herbicide, was only approved for experimental planting. But somehow the transgenes got out far and wide. “Almost all the tests are showing up positive," said Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Richard Bell.

One source of the contamination appears to have come from foundation seed from Louisiana State University, which had a breeding collaboration with Bayer between 1999-2001. The foundation seed from the 2003 Cheniere variety developed by the university contained a trace amount of LLRICE 601 material. The 2003 foundation seed would have been planted throughout the southern United States to produce the 2006 crop, which farmers are now harvesting, Steve Linscombe, a rice breeder and director of the LSU Rice Research Station, told Reuters.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Frederic Arboucalot, rice general manager of Bayer (South East Asia) told Dow Jones Newswires that it plans to expand its rice operations into China, Bangladesh and Pakistan by next year. "In China, we plan to collaborate with a local seed company in a joint venture, " said Arboucalot

The company's already a major player in the Indian hybrid rice market, through its subsidiary, Proagro Seed, and it launched rice hybrids in Indonesia and Vietnam this past month-- Arize Hibrindo R-1 in Indonesia and Arize B-TE in Vietnam. In the Philippines it sells two hybrids, Arize Bigante and Arize H 64.

Arboucalot also said that Bayer plans to commercialise hybrid rice seeds in the US and Thailand in the next three to four years. "We do have a small team working in Thailand and will now invest in a seed-breeding station there," said Arboucalot.

In Latin America, Arboucalot said Bayer has registered its Arize 1003 rice hybrid in Brazil and commercial sales are likely next year.

Bayer's been quite active in rice breeding in the US for several years now. Still Arboucalot doesn't think the compny will have any varieties on the market before 2009. The company initially began looking at inbred rice varieties of rice in the US. "Later we reviewed our strategy and decided to convert the program to focus on hybrids," he said.

Arboucalot declined to comment to Dow Jones on the Liberty Link rice contamination scandal, saying only that the company currently has no plans to commercialise GM rice, but that it could be a significant contributor to increase productivity in the future.

For more info on teh GM rice contamination scandal see the Save Our Seeds fact sheet on the illegal release of Bayer Crop Science's GM rice LL601'

Bayer Co. mired in rice contamination scandal, seeks new markets