Fraley Carries Biotech Flag

OMAHA (DTN) -- Once an Illinois farm kid, scientist Dr. Robert Fraley said he was naturally drawn to thinking about the idea of applying biotechnology to crops.

Three decades after Fraley's initial breakthrough in developing the first transgenic plants, commodity agriculture has been redeveloped around biotech crops. Biotech varieties make up 90% or more of the corn, cotton, soybeans and sugar beet crops in the United States.

"If I could have imagined we would have seen the prolific adoption of the technology we've seen today, if you would have told me this technology would be planted in 30 countries on about one-quarter of the world's farmland, that would have been really hard to believe," Fraley said in an interview.

Fraley and a team of scientists isolated a marker gene and engineered it to express in plant cells. The scientists produced the first transgenic plants using the Agrobacterium transformation process. Continuing their work, Fraley and others created more elaborate plant transformations by modifying seeds to resist insect and herbicides. In 1996, Fraley led the successful market introduction of Roundup-Ready soybeans.

Fraley, now executive vice president and chief technology officer for Monsanto Co., will see his work celebrated this week as one of three new laureates at the World Food Prize Norman Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines. Fraley's fellow laureates are Dr. Marc Van Montagu from Belgium, chairman of the Institute for Plant Biotechnology Outreach, and Dr. Mary-Dell Chilton, another plant biotechnology researcher who founded Syngenta's biotech research center and is now a distinguished fellow at Syngenta Biotechnology Inc.

Fraley said his own work began at Monsanto because of the recruiting efforts of Ernie Jaworski, who directed Monsanto's Biological Sciences team. At that time, in 1981, a race was on to see if genetic engineering could work for plants.

"No one had ever done that before," Fraley said. "A lot of people didn't even think it was scientifically possible."

The World Food Prize has become a premiere week-long event in Des Moines that includes practically dozens of associated speeches, panel discussions and meetings on global food security. A record number of more than 1,500 people from 70 countries are set for the main symposium Oct. 16-18.

"I'm really excited about the World Food Prize, particularly for what it does to recognize biotechnology and the importance these tools are to meeting food production needs over the next few years," Fraley said.

While the symposium may have record attendance, several U.S. officials are being forced to cancel because of the federal shutdown. The U.S. Agency for International Development canceled its meetings planned around the World Food Prize. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was also scheduled to speak, but his staff confirmed Monday he has canceled his trip to Des Moines.

World Food Prize organizers make no bones about the fact the event and the prestigious awards tie heavily into scientific work to reduce hunger. After all, the event's namesake, deceased Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, was a plant breeder. But naming Fraley as an award winner for 2013 put an even larger bullseye on the World Food Prize events because anti-biotech, anti-GE groups focus their ire on Monsanto.

Former Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, addressed the anti-biotech complaints about this year's laureates in an article for the website Huffington Post. "Our committee chose the 2013 laureates because the evidence has grown to show that biotechnology has indeed met our Prize's criteria for significant impact. Over 17 million farmers worldwide have planted genetically enhanced crops on over 170 million hectares with improved yields, resistance to insects and disease, and the ability to tolerate extreme variations in climate. Over 90% of these farmers are resource-poor individuals in developing countries," Quinn wrote.

At the symposium this week, Fraley wants to highlight the argument over what it will take to feed 9 billion people on the planet in the next 40 years. He said meeting the needs will require biotechnology and information.

"Personally, I think this is the greatest challenge on the face of the Earth," he said. "How are we going to feed the 2-1/2 billion people who are going to arrive on our doorsteps in the next 40 years and how are we going to meet the doubling of the food supply without devastating -- from an environmental perspective -- the planet. There is no way to do that without these new innovations."

Fraley noted the rapid adoption of biotechnology by farmers has come with continuing debate about biotech crops globally and 30 years of battles over the mindset of precautionary principle. Fraley wouldn't have believed the pushback and challenges getting biotech crops accepted in some parts of the world, largely in Europe.

"So I think the science has gone better and the adoption has been more prolific," Fraley said. "The challenges that we face haven't yet gone away."

From a U.S. perspective, Fraley said, "a relatively small, but sophisticated and focused group of folks who don't like biotech and they have loud voices." Outside of people in the business, most people don't wake up thinking about biotechnology, he said.

Biotech advocates and companies such as Monsanto have sought to change some of the understanding about what they do, Fraley said. Monsanto is generally considered a seed company instead of a biotechnology developer. Fraley said biotech advocates need to do a better job using social media websites and other ways to actively reach people. At the same time, Fraley said more people need to call out and push back against anti-biotech protests that go too far.

"What we have learned is the rest of the world views us as the first step in the food chain and we need to do a much, much better job to reaching out to consumers, to the moms, to the nutritionists, to the dieticians and do that in a way and use some of the communication tools that maybe some of the folks who are opposed to the technology have jumped on much faster," he said.

Fraley's award provides more fodder for biotechnology's persistent critics. Food & Water Watch issued a report last month ripping into the World Food Prize for its support of biotechnology. "The point was perhaps never more salient than when the 2013 award was given to Monsanto's Vice President Robert Fraley for his work in agricultural biotechnology -- including the development of genetically-engineered Roundup Ready crops used widely in U.S. corn, soy and cotton production," Food & Water Watch blasted in a report.

Anti-biotech protestors are expected in large numbers outside World Food Prize events this week. Iowa Farm Bureau issued a news release Friday in anticipation of the protests. "Hundreds of protestors, many who've never been on an Iowa farm, are heading to our state to protest progress in farming. They don't believe in genetically-modified crops and no amount of peer-reviewed science or speeches from Nobel laureates will convince them otherwise. Just as they have the right to voice their opinions and be heard, the Iowa men and women who spend years in the field growing your food also hope you will hear their stories, and let common sense prevail," Farm Bureau stated.

Along with higher population comes the impact of climate change on agriculture. Higher temperatures, more carbon dioxide and more volatile weather will all factor in how crops are produced and how companies anticipate both weather and pest risks. To help with that, Monsanto recently bought the weather-modeling company Climate Corp., Fraley noted.

"I'm actually pretty optimistic that agriculture has lots of response tools to climate change," Fraley said. "I don't see it being an effect that we can't compensate for as we combine new genes in breeding, or as we expand our testing network or as we start to bring in new traits for pests or drought protection. I'm actually pretty excited. I'm not sure you could respond to it without those new tools."

He added agriculture won't farm the same way as now and meet the world food demand in 2050 "It just can't be done." The way climate change will manifest in agriculture will be increased pests and crop disease, he said.

"The big effect in climate change for agriculture will trigger changes in disease and insect-pest outbreaks. One of the really important things we are focusing on is enhancing natural genetic resistance through markers and breeding and being prepared for changes and then also using the biotech tools to discover new bug and weed control genes."

He also noted the increasing northward march of crops. Along with that, Monsanto's research facilities are moving farther north as well.

"It's clear we are going to be growing corn and soybeans on the Canadian border," Fraley said.

Chris Clayton can be reached at chris.clayton@telventdtn.com

(CZ/BAS)

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