April 28, 2000
Wall Street Journal
Monsanto Co.'s genetically modified potato is falling victim to
the consumer backlash over crop biotechnology.
Fast-food chains such as McDonald's Corp. are quietly telling their
french-fry suppliers to stop using the potato from Monsanto, the
only biotechnology concern to commercialize a genetically modified
spud.
So many food concerns are shrinking from the Monsanto potato that
J.R. Simplot Co., a major supplier of french fries to McDonald's,
is instructing its farmers to stop growing it.
"Virtually all the [fast food] chains have told us they prefer
to take nongenetically modified potatoes," said Fred Zerza,
spokesman for closely held J.R. Simplot, headquartered in Boise,
Idaho.
Monsanto, the St. Louis agricultural unit of Pharmacia Corp., calls
its potato "NewLeaf." It is the latest and smallest crop
to feel the sting of a growing antibiotechnology campaign in the
U.S. and abroad.
Critics have raised enough questions about the environmental and
nutritional safety of crop biotechnology that surveys show many
U.S. consumers want labels on groceries containing genetically modified
ingredients, a move the food industry resists.
American farmers, worried by the controversy, are retreating from
the genetically modified seed they raced to embrace in the late
1990s. Such modified plants are easier to grow than their conventional
cousins; they make their own insecticides and tolerate exposure
to potent weedkillers. But government and industry surveys show
that U.S. farmers plan to grow millions fewer acres of genetically
modified corn, soybeans and cotton than they did last year.
Potato farmers quickly accepted Monsanto's genetically modified
version when it was introduced four years ago. Equipped with a gene
from a micro-organism, the NewLeaf plant makes a toxin that repels
a major pest called the Colorado Potato Beetle, greatly reducing
the need for expensive chemical sprays.
U.S. farmers planted about 50,000 acres of NewLeaf potatoes last
year, up from 10,000 acres in 1996. Total U.S. potato production
last year was about a million acres.
Now, with food companies shrinking from the genetically modified
potato, NewLeaf acreage will likely drop significantly this year.
Fargo, N.D., farmer Ronald Offutt, one of the nation's largest
producers of potatoes, said he won't raise any genetically modified
spuds this year. Last year, about 20% of the potatoes grown by his
company, R.D. Offutt Co., were genetically engineered.
Mr. Offutt said he decided to eliminate the NewLeaf potato after
Cincinnati consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble Co. asked
how long it would take him to supply the company with only conventional
potatoes. Mr. Offutt supplies potato flakes for making P&G's
Pringles chips.
P&G declined to comment.
Frito-Lay Co. said Thursday that it is asking its farmers not to
grow genetically modified potatoes this year. Frito-Lay makes potato-chip
brands Lay's and Ruffles.
Frito-Lay, a Plano, Texas, unit of soft drink giant PepsiCo Inc.,
told its corn farmers this past winter to stop growing genetically
modified varieties for use in its snack products.
Crop biotechnology is a delicate issue for food companies. Most
executives believe the technology is safe but many customers are
turned off by the idea of genetic manipulation.
NewLeaf potatoes are being sacrificed in large part because they're
the easiest genetically modified crop to remove: the vast majority
of spuds grown last year were conventional. It's far harder for
the food industry to reject genetically modified soybeans, for example,
because they represent half of the U.S. crop and are used to make
many more food ingredients.
McDonald's declined to talk about its potato policy. A spokesman
said the company doesn't comment on its procurement practices.
The Burger King unit of London's Diageo PLC said suppliers have
assured it that the french fries it sells aren't made from genetically
modified potatoes.
Hardee's, a fast food chain of CKE Restaurants Inc., said it hasn't
asked suppliers to stop using genetically modified potatoes. But
the chain is considering whether to change its french-fry policy.
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