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The Chinese government has approved drought-tolerant soybeans from Argentine firm Bioceres. The decision was ordered by the Ministry of Agriculture of that country, the largest importer of oilseed grain in the world (acquired 96.54 million tons in 2021). The information was anticipated by Bloomberg and confirmed by LA NACION in government sources. Bioceres also made it public on social networks.
In 2015, the firm obtained the approval of this soybean, called HB4, in Argentina, but the commercialization was conditioned to an authorization in China. The technology already has respective permits also in the United States, Brazil, Canada and Paraguay. All these countries with Argentina represent 84% of global soybean production. Knowing the news, in the Nasdaq of the United States the action of the Bioceres Group, which integrates the firm, came to exceed 26% at one point.
The genesis of this soy comes from a work carried out by the researcher Raquel Chan, who found the drought resistance gene in the sunflower.
As its first product, the company targeted drought-tolerant soybeans, considered key to coping with years of low rainfall such as the last agricultural cycle. Soy in Argentina has a stagnant area. Strictly speaking, of the 20 million hectares that it reached, it is now around 16 to 17 million hectares. With higher retentions than corn, he resigned hectares, among other reasons.
Meanwhile, he then presented drought-tolerant wheat. This material in Argentina was authorized conditionally to a permit from Brazil, the largest buyer of Argentine wheat. The neighboring country gave an import permit for its flour, not grain yet.
Bioceres is part of the Bioceres Crop Solutions (Biox) group, in which Argentine capital participates. It is 50% formed by Bioceres, where some 300 agricultural producers and renowned businessmen such as Hugo Sigman and Gustavo Grobocopatel come together. The other 50% is in the hands of the market.
Recently, the group bought a bionutrition and seed care products company for agriculture in the United States in exchange for US$243 million. This is the company Marrone Bio Innovations, of Davis, California.
reactions
Bioceres indicated that the request for authorization in China had been submitted on October 21, 2016. "It is the first time that an Argentine event receives approval from China," he said.
“All the main soybean producers in the world had already approved it. Now so has China, the main importer and consumer of soybeans. This confirms that our country is a pioneer in its ability to innovate in biotechnology at a global level”, they indicated from Bioceres on social networks.
“The world needs more and more food, and faces increasing climate threats. Today we show that Argentina can be a leader in finding solutions to one of the great challenges of the 21st century. We are happy and proud”, they added.
“Bravo @grupobioceres Future here we come!!!!”, the agro-industrial businessman Gustavo Grobocopatel reacted on Twitter. Later, Grobocopatel told LA NACION: “The approval by China is a big step towards a future that we are building: vegetables as factories, a production model that speaks harmoniously with the environment, the happiness of man as a central purpose, intelligence at the service of well-being, among other things”.
For his part, Daniel Filmus, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, pointed out: "The approval by the Chinese Government of Argentine transgenic soybeans, developed by a team led by Raquel Chan, a Conicet scientist and director of the Agrobiotechnology Institute of the Universidad del Litoral, is a virtuous example of public-private articulation that also demonstrates the importance of promoting investment in Science and Technology in the face of those voices that recommend not doing it and administrations that not long ago even reduced it”, said the official.
Filmus added: “This achievement translates into the success of a thriving industry that allows adding value and generating jobs where the raw materials are, in order to expand the productive capacity of the provinces, which in general, as in the case of the soybeans are not exhausted only in cultivation, but in the industry, this thriving industry that I am talking about”.
The Association of the Soybean Chain (Acsoja) also expressed: “@ACSOJA_Arg congratulates @bioceressemilla for the historic milestone of the approval of HB4 soybeans tolerant to drought by China. A recognition of Argentine development and research and a relevant fact in the face of the challenge of food security that the world faces”.
From the Chamber of the Oil Industry (Ciara), sources of the entity told this medium: "We celebrate the approvals of Argentine technology as always." They then added: “But on the export side, we will request the same guarantees that are applied to wheat [in the case of transgenic cereal, exporters ask producers to express that their cereal is not transgenic], to avoid problems in markets that are not transgenic. they have HB4 soybean approved, which is the vast majority of the markets.”
By Fernando Bertello → lanacion.com.ar
Automatic translation from spanish.
