Syngenta’s Biotech Scab Resistant Wheat

R&D one thing, regulatory and industry approval another

By Tracy Sayler

Growing up on a small subsistence farm near the east coast of

Don Wick of the Red River Farm Network interviewing Hua-ping Zhou of Syngenta, keynote speaker at the opening evening banquet of the recent Prairie Grains Conference. Zhou is leading the effort at Syngenta to develop fusarium (scab) resistant wheat, which includes a biotech research component.

China, Hua-ping “H.P.” Zhou recalls scab as a devastating wheat disease in the 1960s and 70s in that region.  As a child, he remembers helping his parents separate scabby kernels from healthy ones by dipping a bucket of wheat into salty water – the lighter, shriveled scabby kernels that floated to the top were collected and fed to animals.

“Most families including mine did not have enough grain to spare, and I’m sure we ate a lot of mycotoxin contaminated food,” he says. “My father died of esophagus cancer; I often say he ate too much scabby wheat.”

Today, Zhou heads up one of the largest private company scab research efforts in the world, as coordinator of cereal new traits development for Syngenta.  Zhou presented an overview of Syngenta’s scab resistant wheat and biotechnology program in the banquet keynote address at the recent Prairie Grains Conference.

After Zhou came to the U.S. and graduated from Washington State University, he went to work for Monsanto, excited to play a lead role in the company’s growing wheat biotech program. “I was sad when Monsanto terminated its Roundup Ready wheat, which was an indication that the most successful biotech company in the world abandoned wheat,” he says.

Zhou says few companies today have the courage, resources, and the expertise to launch biotech wheat: developing a GMO trait takes 15 years or longer, and the cost can reach or easily exceed $100 million. The current wheat seed market in North America is under $500 million, and it would take many years to recoup the initial investment of a biotech wheat, especially in an environment that isn’t entirely accepting of it. That explains why currently there is little interest among the few large private seed companies to pursue biotech wheat.

Syngenta, with one of the largest R&D programs in cereals in the world, is one of the few private companies that continue to pursue a biotech wheat, with scab resistance the largest effort. Syngenta has been conducting field trials of fusarium resistant wheat since 2000 in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Spain, and the U.K., in accordance with all applicable national and local regulations, says Zhou. 

“Field trials from the most recent years have identified several very positive options for further development,” he says.

Before introducing fusarium resistant wheat to the marketplace, however, Syngenta would need to obtain regulatory approvals from the EPA, FDA, and USDA, as well as approvals from leading wheat import/export countries, such as Canada, Japan, and the European Union.  Regulatory approvals alone take at least six years, including numerous laboratory and field studies to ensure that the new variety or varieties are substantially equivalent to the conventional ones; safe for human consumption and for animal feeding, and that the trait is sound to the environment.

“Responsible development of genetically-modified wheat is the key for success,” Zhou says.

Before commercialization, Zhou says Syngenta would also seek approval by major wheat groups in North America: National Association of Wheat Growers, U.S. Wheat Associates, North American Millers Association, and the Canadian Wheat Board. The company would seek a launch in both the U.S. and Canada, if the decision was made to go forth with commercialization, he says.

Fusarium resistance has the potential to be the gateway trait to pave the way for other biotechnologies, such as better grain quality, higher yield, drought tolerance, herbicide resistance, and other desirable traits and technologies proven in other crops.

“But until the first GMO wheat is successfully introduced into the marketplace, Syngenta is unlikely to commit the resources necessary in research and discovery to develop the other traits,” says Zhou.  “We need the support from every player in the entire wheat industry to introduce scab resistant wheat and make wheat a more profitable crop.”