Biotechnology
New Technology Brings About Signifant Change, Value
By Dr. Bruce Hunter, Manager, Product Development, Novartis Seeds Inc.
(This is a summary of Dr. Hunter's presentation to the Sept. 98 OCPA Semi-Annual Meeting)

The history of agriculture is marked by new technology milestones that have each significantly changed the business of agriculture. Throughout modern history, our farmers have embraced mechanization, irrigation, the development of chemical pesticides and fertilizers – and now, biotechnology – to feed a growing world population on a shrinking base of arable land. Technology has greatly improved the efficiency of agriculture.

Undoubtedly, the dawn of biotechnology and genomics has accelerated the pace of change. It is sure to continue as new research and new information drives technology to an unprecedented level.

In the past few years, biotechnology has meant changes – some would even say anxiety – for farmers in North America and around the world. Biotechnology has and will continue to revolutionize agriculture because the transfer of genes can be accomplished at a much faster rate than with traditional plant breeding. The traditional input structure of agriculture has also radically changed. Today, crop inputs such as insect control and herbicide tolerance are being delivered through seed. Tomorrow, powerful new seeds will not be limited to agronomic traits but include a whole host of output traits from nutraceuticals to plants that produce industrial raw products. High oil corn is one example of an output trait.

In fact, let’s peer into the not-so-distant future to see what Canadian agriculture might look like:

• Growers contracting specific corn hybrids to feed hogs,

• Growers contracting with fast-food outlets to produce specific soybeans for their burgers,

• Partnerships with food processors to meet the specific nutritional requirements of a particular niche market,

• Corn crops producing plastics for industrial purposes,

• Petroleum generated by high oil crops,

• Pharmaceuticals produced by plants.

Because of our ability to transfer genetic information from one species to another, transgenics and recombinant DNA technology are major drivers of change that will shape this future. It’s this technology that brought us Bt corn and Roundup Ready soybeans. Genomics or gene mapping, along with the related technologies of bioinformatics and molecular markers have also made great strides in the past few years. Gene technologies help identify, isolate, regulate, modify and transfer genes to crop species – a key element in the development of future biotechnological products.

While these new technologies have profound implications for agriculture, the same technologies have applications for animal and human health including healthier foods and medical compounds. This is creating synergies based on basic biology. As a result, pharmaceuticals and human nutrition now have more in common with agricultural businesses than ever before. Often called "life sciences" companies, research synergies in gene mapping and biotechnology are the common thread behind future enhancements in food and medicines. Ten years ago, who had ever heard of a life science company? Today, life sciences companies are key players investing millions in research. The Novartis life science business is one example.

For generations, we have relied on plants as a source of food, fibre and for construction materials. Plants are very efficient "chemical" factories – utilizing elements from the environment such as water, light and carbon dioxide. Proteins, oils, fats, amino acids, aromatic compounds and defensive compounds from plants have value that can be harnessed for food, health or industrial purposes. Thanks to the new tools of biotechnology, it is now possible for plants to make drugs, vaccines, health foods, insect control compounds, fungicides, raw industrial products and cosmetics. Indeed this is quite a shift from growing crops primarily for grain purposes.

Besides helping produce non-traditional products from plants, new technologies will also change the way we produce crops. In the future, certain crops will exhibit increased tolerance to wet, cold or hot conditions. For example, drought tolerance characteristics such as those exhibited in dry area plants could be added to grain crops, resulting in a significant yield benefit and expanded areas of production.

Some of the corn products Novartis Seeds has in its research pipeline indicate future biotechnological traits that will be available to growers:

- Bt + High Oil Corn (1999)

- Bt + Liberty Link herbicide tolerance + IMI (1999)

- Bt + phytate (2000-02)

- Bt + higher digestibility (2000-02)

- Complete insect resistance + disease resistance (2005)

With seed as the medium for delivering a tremendous amount of technology, including non-traditional products, many companies – including those that haven’t traditionally been involved in the seed business – have entered the fray. Huge investments and consolidations in agri-business concern many farmers, but it’s part of the change that all stakeholders – growers, industry, researchers, government – and consumers are coming to terms with.

Because the research investment is so large, there has also been a greater focus on intellectual property protection. When huge investments are made in developing new products, the investment must be protected, to realize a realistic return on investment so more dollars are returned into further research. For researchers, it has meant increased vigilance to ensure proprietary rights are respected. For growers, it has meant technology use agreements are required to plant some new innovations and contracts for identity-preserved grains are becoming more common. For industry, it has meant potential litigation to protect innovations while working more closely with growers on resistance management issues and technology use guidelines.

The new technologies have meant big changes for the seed industry as well. We now have to deal with a greater degree of regulation, changes in seed purity and inventory situations for the various traits.

What does all this mean to you and your farm? It will continue to mean more and more specialization for farmers...and the identity preservation that goes along with it. The focus is shifting away from crop yield to crop value.

Niche markets are also developing. For example, a gene in leeches can be transferred to a canola plant to produce hirudin – an anticoagulant medicine. While this would be a limited market in terms of crop area, it’s a good example of a very high-value crop.

Clearly, agriculture is much more complex today than it was just a few years ago. And that’s unlikely to change in the years ahead. Continuing to work together, we can harness this exciting new technology with value for growers, industry and researchers.

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