ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 23 MARKET DEVELOPMENT “My job in office was not to say if it worked or didn’t work. That’s for the researchers. It is about the market. - Santiago del Solar There is no genetically modified wheat grown in Canada, and for good reason. As one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, Canada has long prioritized export market demand over perceived agronomic benefits. Key destinations for both Canadian durum and non-durum wheat, such as the European Union, have zero tolerance for unapproved GM varieties. A detection would trigger serious consequences, regardless of volume or safety considerations. It’s a risk that has never been considered worth taking. In October 2020, Argentina became the first country to grant commercial approval for GM wheat, giving the goahead to Bioceres Crop Solutions to cultivate varieties with the drought-tolerant HB4 trait. Its approval was met with resistance. Santiago del Solar, a large-scale grain and cattle producer in Buenos Aires province, pushed to block commercialization while he was in office. From 2017 to 2019, he served under President Mauricio Macri as chief of staff to the agriculture minister. He said pressure to approve HB4 from the crushing industry and seed companies was significant, but he held firm. In a conversation at Expoagro, Argentina’s largest outdoor agricultural show, del Solar expressed concern about HB4’s potential impact on trade. He also said he didn’t trust the claims about its effectiveness, calling it “snake oil.” “My job in office was not to say if it worked or didn’t work,” he said. “That’s for the researchers. It is about the market.” At the time of that conversation in early March 2026, no infractions had been reported. However, weeks later, del Solar’s concerns were validated when the EU’s rapid alert system for food and feed flagged multiple soymeal shipments from Argentina and Brazil for containing the same HB4 trait, which is still unapproved in the EU. Argentine and Brazilian government authorities, who had been responsive to HB4-related press inquiries before the notifications, have since gone mostly silent. Gustavo Idígoras, president of CIARA-CEC, Argentina’s chamber of grain crushers and exporters, contested the results, saying the method of detection was not valid because the labs did not have the specific gene needed to detect HB4. “What they are running at the laboratory in the Netherlands is a genetic test that could detect a different trait,” he said. Idígoras believes the labs tested for glufosinate resistance, a marker shared by several GM varieties already approved in the EU, including products from BASF and Bayer. However, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority disputed that claim, saying its laboratory sequenced the genetic fingerprint of HB4 specifically. That methodology has been shared with Argentine authorities. The matter remains unresolved. Since its commercial approval, HB4 wheat has been planted on approximately 50,000 hectares in Argentina. Soybean production is at just 2,500 hectares. How HB4 soy entered the supply chain is still unclear, and Cecilia Moral Muñoz, head of communications at Bioceres, could not account for its movement. The company, she said, does have a stewardship program. She described it as an identity-preserved system implemented through contracted growers, controlled logistics, and designated commercialization channels. It is voluntary, she said, not a regulatory requirement. HB4 soybean growers operate under a non-commercial scheme, contributing land and field operations as service providers under defined technical protocols. They do not acquire ownership of the seed. The program functions differently for HB4 wheat. Growers are permitted to deliver only to authorized receiving points, mainly flour mills and animal feed manufacturers, so the grain does not enter the general commodity stream. In both cases, the stewardship program ends at the first point of delivery. What happens beyond that depends on third-party operators. WHAT IS HB4 AND HOW DOES IT WORK? HB4 is a genetically modified trait developed in Argentina from a gene found naturally in sunflowers. According to Martin Mariani, global seed and trade manager at Bioceres Crop Solutions, it works as a transcription factor, affecting more than 300 metabolic routes inside the plant. Under abiotic stress, he said, the trait delays ethylene production, the hormone linked to plant senescence. Mariani described it as an airbag. During periods of minimal to no rainfall, the HB4 trait gives the plant better tools to withstand stress. If the rains don’t come, though, the plant will still die. continued on page 24
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