Cutback on GMOs

November 18, 1999, The Associated Press, JOE KAFKA, Associated Press
Writer

MINNEAPOLIS -- Midwestern US farmers will cut back on genetically
modified crops next year in reaction to demands for labels on foods made
from them, a commodities analyst predicts.

How far the crops' favor will fall depends upon attitudes in Asia,
Richard Feltes told 50 grain traders, elevator operators, farmers and
representatives of food processing companies during a private briefing
Tuesday at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. Feltes is vice president and
director of commodity research for Chicago-based Refco Inc.

While Europe is the hotbed of resistance to so-called GMO crops, Japan
and other Asian nations are the biggest buyers of grain exported from
the United States, where most GMO crops are grown, Feltes said. "Asia is
the key," Feltes said. "They are the big buyers of corn. Japan takes 16
million tons of U.S. corn (a year). Europe takes 3 million."