Industry needs to take a flaxative.

[charliep]

Perhaps a learning from the flaxseed issue is that all genetic events have to be registered in major markets. This wasn't done with triffid flax.

The genetic events in canola have been registered in Europe.

[haveapulse]

I agree, knowing what your competitor is doing is paramount. Doing the research and having the technology ready when the time is right for the market place is essential. Regulating introduction of that technology into a willing market place is key. Knowingly doing all of the above enables competitiveness, & efficiencies. And in all this in a the multi headed industry requires leadership, and vision.

[charliep]

From this past week, bringing a new genetic trait forward is $100 mln and ten years plus/minus.

Perhaps the challenge is not to be on the bleeding edge of biotechnology but hopely close to the early innovators or at least the early adoptors. We don't want to be on the laggard end of the world.

[oneoff]

Yeah... But.... Does anybody; or any company or corporation have the right to ruin organic farmers or late adopters; just because they have a bright novel plan to make a buck for themselves.
The answer seems obvious; but maybe not. I once saw a neighbor rationalize that his crop was worth way more than his organic neighbor; and so he had the God given right to spray with abandon. Maybe the whole industry thinks that way.
Thats the test I'd use to check whether the new idea is fit to be released from the test tube by the marketing department and risk manager lawyers.

[bucket]

Charliep

Did being on the leading edge of flax development help us?

By the way the people responsible for being ahead of their time are no where to be found, are they?

And as in typical fashion the correct response would be to get the gmo event registered. If the customer doesn't want it, it really doesn't matter how wonderful the crop or gmo event is, does it?

[charliep]

Actually found out it is not possible to get a genetic event retroactively
- not a possibility flaxseed.

There is a process to get genetic events registered in Europe. It has
worked for soybeans for a long time. It has worked for corn this
summer to get its dust registered in soybeans for adventitious
presence (not fully registered for unrestricted access). It works for
canola.

The process is to have the potential event reviewed by the European
Food Safety Agency (you can google them). The next part of this
process is public review/consultation and approval by parliament/a
political process.

[parsley]

charliep, why register? Get smart.

Sprinkle sprinkle Triffid flax
In a EU field with cracks.

After all, in his book, Alan McHughen describes exactly what the Manager of <a href="http://parsleysnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/01/fp967-cdc-triffid-flaxs-owners-value.html">Value Added Seeds Inc. </a>John Allen, said the Saskatchewan Pedigreed Seedgrowers did.

"With the unrestricted release approval we started giving away sample seed in small envelope to anyone interested who wanted to try growing Triffid in their gardens."

(Is this still standard procedure for the "Maintenance and Distribution of Pedigreed Seed"??????

But I have a question for you. a BIT OF A PUZZLE FOR YOU:

So Value Added Seeds Ltd.. was <a href="http://parsleysnotebook.blogspot.com/2010/01/value-added-seeds-ltd-walked-through.html">GAZETTED ON FEBRUARY 1, 2001</a>

Go that?

But according to the leader Post article below, the pedigreed seed growers began handing out Triffid seed to any and every unsuspecting gardener, even though they had to crush their own seed because they knew it was harmful to the market.

"GM FLAX SEED OFF THE MARKET
June 22, 2001
The Leader-Post (Regina)
Jason Warick

SASKATOON -- A genetically-modified flax seed developed at the University of Saskatchewan has, according to this story, been taken off the market because of European fears the variety will contaminate other flax produced in Canada. The story says that the last of the 200,000 bushels of Triffid flax seed worth at least $2.5 million was rounded up from farms across the Prairies and crushed earlier this year and de-registered April 1"

So these pedigreed seedgrowers gazetted their company Feb 1, 2001, were forced ro crush the "last" of the Triffid,(Did they begin crushing in the fall before they were gazetted?) but immediately started handing flax out in packages?

Now, that's enthusiastic marketing to hire and pay their manager John Allen to hand out free packages when they'd just taken a flax crushing blow.

I guess I am not good at business or time frames.

So, charliep. maybe the same pedigreed seedgrowers need to take some bags of Triffid over to EU, and hand them out at trade shows as they did here, and sprinkle Triffid in the fields as they tour in a bus, and then claim, "well, Triffid is in everything anyhow, so deal with it, ducky".

Saves money.Saves time. Saves bad press. Pars

[parsley]

oneoff,

Organic.There will be a very very lucrative market for organically grown foods. The CEO's, the Government leaders, the professionals continue to buy organic because you see, they are not prepared to eat the following peas porridge in a pot nine days old:

QUOTE
GM potato uses frog gene to resist pathogens
Wagdy Sawahel


28 July 2005 | EN


The tree frog Phyllomedusa bicolor produces chemicals with antibiotic properties from its skin

Adrian Garda
A chemical that South American frogs excrete from their skin could protect potatoes and other crops from a range of diseases, according to biotechnologists in Canada.

Researchers at the University of Victoria inserted a modified frog gene into potato plants to make them produce the chemical.

The genetically modified (GM) potatoes showed resistance to infection by a broad range of disease-causing fungi and bacteria, including those responsible for diseases such as dry rot, late blight and pink rot.

Different species of frog produce different sets of chemicals, including some called dermaseptins, from their skin depending on the environment they inhabit. The chemicals help protect frogs from bacteria and other 'pathogens'.

The most potent dermaseptin, known as B1, has been isolated from the skin of tree frogs called Phyllomedusa bicolor that live in the rainforests of South America, where the hot and humid conditions mean fungi and bacteria thrive.

The Canadian team showed that a synthetic version of dermaseptin B1 inhibited the growth of "an exceptionally broad range" of fungi that cause plant diseases, as well as the bacterium Erwinia carotovora, which causes blackleg in potato plants in the field and soft rot of tubers in storage.
The researchers genetically modified potatoes to produce the chemical and exposed the GM plants to the same organisms. The inserted gene gave "unusually broad-spectrum and powerful resistance to infection", according to the team's research, which the journal Theoretical and Applied Genetics published online in June.

Santosh Misra, who led the work, told SciDev.Net the approach could help farmers in developing countries to reduce pesticide use, increase yields and reduce losses of crops stored after harvest.

Fungal and bacterial infections can cause heavy losses of potato crops. The standard approach has, in recent decades, been to spray crops with pesticides, but this can be damaging to the environment and farmers' health, and encourages the fungi and bacteria to develop pesticide-resistance.

Misra's team says that because their GM potatoes could resist so many types of disease-causing organism, the same gene could be used to protect other crops such as wheat, barley and sugar.

The researchers say that the preliminary results of studies to show the safety of dermaseptin B1 "are positive". They add that the GM plants showed no ill effects of having been genetically modified.

Eric Messens, professor of plant molecular genetics at Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology at Ghent University, Belgium, says the research into the safety of GM crop using genes that produce toxins should precede the main research, not follow it.

Messons told SciDev.Net that it was important to test if dermaseptin B1 is toxic to people and animals, as well as study whether the chemical gets broken down or builds up in the body.

"Long-term effects must be taken into consideration because even though the authors claim that the amount of dermaseptin is low, the accumulation effect can not be ignored," said Messons.

For example, said Messons, long-term consumption of peas called Lathyrus sativus can cause paralysis if a toxin in the peas accumulates in people, as has happened in Bangladesh and India.

Messons suggests that safety could be improved by ensuring that GM potatoes only produce dermaseptin B1 when they become infected, and then only in the skin of the potato, which could then be removed by peeling." UNQUOTE

You really don't think Al Gore peels potatoes do you? Pars

[bucket]

charliep

Okay, IF the EU says they don't want GM flax, why develop it it all?

The flax council just got 6 million dollars to develop another herbicide resistant flax.

Has anyone asked our customers if that is a good idea?

If not, then maybe its not such a good idea to go thru the same thing and have barry hall say "... duh,well,uh I guess the we didn't crush all the flax ".

The EU politicians have made a perfect case for growing flax in europe without subsidizing it. Just shit on Canada and we can grow it more effectively. And Canada takes it like boy scouts.

Instead of using the 6 million to have more flax crushing capacity, we are going to have another triffid event.

[ProFarmer]

Hey Tipsy where are all these flax supplies, in our area there is no flax left that I know of. 2009/2010 crop was sold to pay the bills. Maybe somebody needs to take a marketing course??? 9.25 was out there for 2010 crop.

[charliep]

bucket.

Flaxseed is an interesting case study and have to admit you are
likely right. At the point in 2001 (or perhaps before), the
industry could have made the decision to slug through the
European regulatory system and get the event approved.
Would triffid have been registered? No idea. Does someone
have to take responsibility for the time and cost of getting
genetic events registered in major customers markets in the
future? Absolutely.

On the subsidy front, Europe was paying farmers directly to
grow alternative crops one of which was flax - acreage
increased during the late 1990's (particularly in the UK). Since,
the EU has changed to direct acreage payments (not payments
for individual crops) and flax acres have come off substantially.
I suspect flax is not a competitive crop profit wise given the
yields have remain in the average 18 to 22 bu/acre range (at
least in Canada) - not competitive with other crops.

Will eastern Europe countries grow flax? Maybe but they likely
don't have the management expertise or chemical registration.
Will it be competitive with other crops profit wise?

[haveapulse]

Received an inquiry today from a company located in the Ukraine looking for buyers of flax, and peas. With their higher moisture and deep organic soils one would expect flax to be a good fit, we will live to know, and I expect the answer will be yes.