The Hindu Business Line : It pays to grow non-GM crops

MR Dan Heffelmire, President of H&B Specialities Inc that deals with food quality grain products, is one who personally has no problems with genetically modified (GM) food. But when it comes to business, his problems have only increased with more farmers in the US taking to cultivation of GM crops.

"Our problems have increased with rise in GM crops. We export corn grown traditionally to Japan and South Korea. Both these countries do not accept GM crops. As a result, we are now left doing more paperwork to ensure that our products are accepted by our buyers," Mr Heffelmire told a group of visiting journalists.

The paperwork for those exporting corn or soyabean to countries such as the European Union, Japan and Korea begin from the farmgate.

First, the farmer has to sign papers saying the crop has not been contaminated with any GM material.

Then, the silo owner who buys the crop has to give a similar undertaking before the shipper gives his.

"We also have to carefully agree on our contracts. We sign in a way that says these crops will conform to norms at the delivery point. The buyers too come here to check before taking delivery," says a corn exporter.

The delivery point means the place where the crop is filled in a barge that is sent by river to the nearest port, which in case of places such as Bloomington could be some 750 km away.

The barges are tightly sealed and secured from being contaminated by any foreign material.

The additional paperwork pays since the importers are willing to pay some premium for ensuring GM-free products.

Corn bought by Japan and Korea is converted into snacks, while it is also used for making starch.

"This sort of check and balance has helped in ensuring that our consignments have less contamination. Though our contracts allow for about five per cent contamination and trash, the level of foreign material in our shipments has come down to around one per cent," the exporter says.

On the farmers' side, firms such as H&B Specialities have to ensure that the crop is properly insured from contamination by GM crops. "We ensure that there is a proper refuge area or buffer area," Mr Heffelmire said.

Corn growers are asked to have a refuge area of 20 per cent. This means towards the end of the area where corn is sown, it is mandatory for farmers to grow 20 per cent non-GM crop at the end of the farm to ensure that neighbouring farms are not affected due to pollination of GM crops.

"We have to keep an eye at every stage to ensure that the shipments to our consumers conform to the stipulated norms," said Mr Heffelmire.

"But we get a premium ranging between 5 and 25 per cent for the products and growers also benefit from this," he said.

Another exporter said corn traders in the US were now confident of exporting to the EU.

"We can meet even a lower level of contamination/trash. But the problem is that the EU buyers demand that these conditions be met at the point of delivery, which we are sceptical of," he said.

The problem is because the trash/contamination level could differ from what it is at the point of loading and point of delivery. "It could be higher at the delivery port for no fault of ours," he added.

But exporters, experts and growers agree that growing a traditional or GM crop variety depends on what is economically beneficial to farmers.

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