Healing rice steams farmers

CHAFFEE, Mo.

It's only 150 acres, a small amount by agriculture standards, and right now the land that sits in Scott County's vibrant farm community is bare.

But the controversial crop that could be sprouting out of that soil as early as this spring -- genetically modified rice -- has created passions in equal measure by two groups in heated opposition.

The debate centers on a plan to bring so-called genetically engineered "pharm crops," or crops that contain human medicines, to Missouri for the first time. The project is being proposed by Ventria Bioscience, a company that specializes in the development of plant-made pharmaceuticals.

Ventria is in the process of moving from California to Maryville, Mo., and wants farmer David Herbst to grow 150 acres of genetically modified rice on his farm, which is near the junction of Route EE and Highway 77 in Chaffee.

Ventria and other proponents of the project say that bringing pharmaceutical crops to the state will help farmers across Missouri eventually tap into a multibillion-dollar global market as well as help save countless lives across the world.

"Missouri farmers have a choice: value-added crops or status quo," Herbst said. "The choice is very important because it will have a direct impact on our future and our children's future. We have an opportunity here."

Those who oppose the plan, which includes many Southeast Missouri rice farmers, say they fear that the genetically modified rice will contaminate their crops, rendering them worthless to big-time rice buyers like Rice Land Foods and Anheuser-Busch.

"We are against it 110 percent," said Sonny Martin, a rice farmer from Bernie who also is chairman of the Missouri Rice Research and Merchandising Council. "We do not want it here. We do not want it next to our food-grade rice. It could literally kill the market and hurt the value of our rice."

Martin said the European Union has already said it would not accept any level of transgenic material.

"If those companies even think there's a hint of that rice in our rice, they'll start buying their rice someplace else," Martin said.

Plans for three counties

Ventria submitted permit requests in January to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to grow 200 acres of the crop in three counties in Southeast Missouri -- Scott, Cape Girardeau and Mississippi. Currently, the company only intends to grow 150 acres on Herbst's farm this year.

The requests are pending and also have to be signed off on by the state's Department of Agriculture. Ventria is meeting with the opposition later this month in Jefferson City to air out their disagreements. The USDA said it is reviewing the permit requests, a process that usually takes at least 90 days.

Ventria has grown pharmaceutical rice in California for the past six years. Herbst said that he plans to start growing the rice in April and that Ventria will send a team of six full-time scientists and agronomists to monitor progress.

The plants basically will become manufacturers of proteins, a less expensive process than growing the proteins in a laboratory or extracting them from animal tissue. Ventria has rice that is engineered to produce proteins found in saliva, tears and mother's milk. Those proteins can be made into medicine.

Scott Deeter, Ventria president and CEO, said Ventria's proteins have the potential to address health issues such as severe dehydration due to diarrhea, which kills more than 1.3 million children under the age of 5 every year across the globe.

"I think the most important thing to know about the project overall is our entire goal is to improve human health and save lives," Deeter said. "That's very simply what we're about."

But some area farmers worry about the risk to their crops.

Andy Clark, who farms 3,200 acres of rice in Butler County, said he's not against the technology. In fact, he'd like to see it developed.

"I don't think you will find a farmer who is against the technology," he said. "But it could hurt us. It could shut me down. All we'd have to have is one buyer decide to not buy rice because of genetically modified rice. They say they can contain it. I'm not convinced."

Gary Murphy, who farms 400 acres of rice near Bernie, said he'd like to hear big buyers like Rice Land Foods and Anheuser-Busch say they're not worried.

"If they tell us it's OK, it's OK with me," he said. "I just don't know. Even the perception could be a problem."

It's causing some concern on a national scale too. Arkansas rice growers think it could even contaminate their crops, and a state senator there is introducing legislation to regulate the cultivation of pharmaceutical plants.

Dwight Roberts, the president of the U.S. Rice Growers Association, said the group doesn't have an official position, but he is concerned.

"How are they going to contain it?" he said. "We need proof that they can do that. No one wants to run the risk of having contaminated rice. The market is so delicate. Farmers need to have assurances. The agriculture industry can't afford any more risks."

But those at Ventria along with Herbst say it can be contained.

Ventria will use greenhouses for breeding and initial product research, Herbst said. The fields are under the close scrutiny of the USDA, which inspected Ventria's California fields eight times last year and issued no citations.

Herbst said that they will burn the fields after harvest and then the fields will be reflooded so any missed seeds will sprout. The rice itself will never leave the farm because Ventria will grind it into powder on site after the harvest, he said. The rice farm nearest Herbst's is about five miles away, he said.

Some farmers worry that birds would eat the seed and then drop it onto their fields as waste. But Deeter said that the birds will digest the rice. He said the shell of this kind of rice is thin and easily digestible.

"So that argument doesn't really hold water," he said.

As far as harming the market, Deeter said that never happened in California.

"For six years, we never had a problem," he said. "The Japanese didn't change their buying practices. I think it's just rhetoric. We've had discussions across the food industry. Not once have those buyers told us if we grow here, they won't buy the rice."

Still, both Deeter and Herbst couldn't dismiss a possibility of contamination.

"You can never say never," Deeter said. "That question is what's the likelihood. It's a really low likelihood."

Still, that's not enough assurance for farmers like Chris Williams, who farms 3,500 acres of rice south of Poplar Bluff.

"If it contaminates, we're done," he said. "We don't have a market. It's not about the technology. That's great. But it's not worth risking this industry for."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137