When Ventria brought their pharma rice project to
Missouri - home of Monsanto and the Monsanto-supported Donald Danforth Plant Science Center - they probably thought that after the opposition they'd faced in California, they were now on safe territory. Looks like they made a mistake!

Nearly all of Missouri's $100 million rice crop is grown in southeast Missouri.

"I'd say 95-97 percent of the farmers here are against this. Those who are for it are looking to fill their pockets off it." - Sonny Martin, chairman of the Missouri Rice and Merchandising Council. (see below)

In a letter to Gov. Blunt of Missouri, copied to GM Watch, farmer Donald Dunklee warns, "Should Missouri approve the open field planting of pharmaceutical rice (PHARMA RICE) I intend to boycott the purchase of any product made in Missouri. Considering the economic climate of our country and the pending financial troubles on the horizon, can your state afford any boycotts?"
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Missouri making unpopular first venture into biopharming
By Margaret Stafford - Associated Press Writer
March 14, 2005
http://www.ljworld.com/section/stateregional/story/198973

When Ventria Biosciences arrived in northwest Missouri, the company brought with it a hope for a regional economic boost spurred by expected medical breakthroughs.

That's one argument. The other insists that Ventria's arrival from California brought nothing more than the potential for lasting damage to the state's farmers.

There is no argument, however, that Ventria's decision to relocate has brought the debate over biopharming -- the practice of genetically modifying crops to grow medications -- to Missouri.

"I'm totally confident this is the future," said Dean Hubbard, the president of Northwest Missouri State University, who invited Ventria to his community about 85 miles north of Kansas City. "It is beyond the adventure stage. It's been proven you can do it. Our return in the long-term will be great. It will far exceed our investment."

Last November, Northwest Missouri and Ventria agreed to make the company the anchor of a proposed Center of Excellence for plant-made pharmaceuticals on the university's campus in Maryville. Hubbard believes the industry will reap millions in revenue, reduce the cost of medicines and provide Northwest students with opportunities in biotechnology fields.

The university provided $5 million in privately raised venture capital and will build an on-campus biotechnology center with space set aside for Ventria. In return, Ventria is moving its headquarters, about 13 employees and processing functions from Sacramento, Calif., to Maryville. It also will grow 70 percent of its U.S. field production in Missouri.

Genetic enhancements

In California, Ventria planted small plots of rice genetically enhanced with synthetic human genes to produce the proteins lactoferrin and lysozyme, which the company hopes to harvest and refine for use in medicines to fight diarrhea and dehydration. The proteins occur naturally in human tears, saliva and breast milk, but it can cost up to $30,000 a gram to extract them.

It's the presence of the human genes in the rice that worries farmers, especially in southwest Missouri, the heart of the state's rice industry. They're concerned the Ventria crops could cross-pollinate with other food crops, introducing the foreign genes into the regular food chain.

Even if such cross-pollination never occurs, fear that it might could lead buyers to avoid food crops grown nearby.

"These people say they can contain it," said Sonny Martin, a Butler County rice farmer who is chairman of the Missouri Rice and Merchandising Council. "But they are not going to net this rice to keep birds out. They can't contain the water runoff here."

Ventria faced the same arguments in California last year when it wanted to increase its acres of open-field rice production. The state's rice growers were concerned the genetically modified rice would hurt their $500 million business, and others raised concerns about Ventria's efforts to prevent cross-pollinization.

Scott Deeter, president of Ventria, said the company is not moving to Missouri to escape the controversy. He said Missouri's abundant land and water, and Northwest Missouri State's efforts to build around Ventria, drew the company to the Midwest.

"We've been growing rice in California for six years without any impacts on the California rice industry," Deeter said. "We have a very highly regulated process to make sure production is done in a safe manner."

The company has applied to grow up to 200 acres of genetically modified rice in Scott, Cape Girardeau and Mississippi counties in southeast Missouri. Eventually, Ventria hopes to grow thousands of acres of the modified rice, Deeter said.

Unpopular move

Nearly all of Missouri's $100 million rice crop is grown in southeast Missouri. Farmers there have met with Ventria officials and Missouri Secretary of Agriculture Fred Ferrell, presenting a petition with 175 signatures opposing the plans.

"I'd say 95-97 percent of the farmers here are against this," Martin said. "Those who are for it are looking to fill their pockets off it."

Martin said the farmers are planning some efforts to, at minimum, put off the Ventria planting until next year, but he declined to elaborate.

Genetically modified crops are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, with state governments allowed to review safety procedures and suggest more stringent regulation of the companies before a permit is issued.

The farmers have the support of advocacy groups such as Friends of the Earth, as well as trade organizations such as the National Food Processors Assn. and the Grocery Manufacturers of America, which have opposed genetically modified food crops.

The Union of Concerned Scientists in December called on the Agriculture Department to ban open-field growing of food crops engineered to produce pharmaceutical and industrial products. The group acknowledges the potential benefits of plant-grown pharmaceuticals, but suggests companies use nonfood crops such as tobacco, or grow them in greenhouses.