The U.S. Department of Justice is expected to approve Monsanto Co.’s planned $1.5 billion acquisition of Delta and Pine Land Co. as early as Friday but several key opponents continue to evaluate options to block the deal. Delta and Pine (DPL) operates the largest private cotton seed breeding program in the world, and would give Monsanto, already a global leader in biotech crops, a platform to expand its cotton specialty seeds and genetic traits business.

The United States House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture has begun the process of writing the 2007 Farm Bill. Of grave concern is language added and approved by the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry that preempts state restrictions of foods or agricultural products deregulated by the USDA. The added language reads, ”no State or locality shall make any law prohibiting the use in commerce of an article that the Secretary of Agriculture has inspected and passed; or determined to be of non-regulated status.”

Last August, markets reacted negatively when the USDA announced a Bayer CropScience GM trait had been found in the U.S. rice supply. [...] Since last August, Downing has filed suit on behalf of over 200 Missouri and Arkansas rice farmers. In the proposed class action, there are now some 460 rice farmers representing over 248,000 acres of rice. In an April filing, Downing said total compensatory damages for plaintiffs and other members of the proposed classes may approach or exceed $1 billion.

Last August, markets reacted negatively when the USDA announced a Bayer CropScience GM trait had been found in the U.S. rice supply. [...] Since last August, Downing has filed suit on behalf of over 200 Missouri and Arkansas rice farmers. In the proposed class action, there are now some 460 rice farmers representing over 248,000 acres of rice. In an April filing, Downing said total compensatory damages for plaintiffs and other members of the proposed classes may approach or exceed $1 billion.

The DNA of Minnesota wild rice gets special protection under a new state law adopted this year with the backing of Indian tribes. Genetic modifications to wild rice will be watched more closely, with environmental impact statements required and permits controlled by the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board. The board is also required to keep tabs on genetic modifications to wild rice throughout the country and notify wild rice farmers, Indian tribes and legislators if permits for genetically altered wild rice are issued in any state.

By splicing in a gene that allows crops to resist this plant-killer, farmers can apply it with abandon, cutting costs and reducing the need for tilling. But this success has sown the seeds of its own destruction by speeding the evolution of weeds—such as giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)—into varieties that also have inborn resistance to the herbicide. Now researchers at the University of Nebraska have successfully modified crops to resist yet another herbicide—dicamba—that would eradicate the ”pernicious weeds,” researchers report in Science.

A Chicago biotech start-up scored its first major deal Tuesday when Monsanto Co. agreed to a research partnership to genetically engineer crops like corn or soybeans more quickly than by using standard technology. [...] Chromatin’s technology was developed by Daphne Preuss, a University of Chicago biology professor, in research with weeds. Preuss, who is on leave from the U. of C., is president and chief scientific officer at Chromatin. [...] ”This is a significant milestone for a technology that has come a long way since its development at the university,” said Alan Thomas, director of intellectual property at the University of Chicago. ”We hope this is the first of many such announcements.”

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today announced a new forward-looking policy statement that will encourage BIO’s Food and Agriculture members to help facilitate the flow of goods in commerce and minimize the potential for trade disruptions with respect to products of agricultural biotechnology. The Product Launch Stewardship Policy addresses the issue of asynchronous authorizations — where different countries may approve, deregulate or authorize biotech crop varieties at different times. Such variance in regulatory authorizations among trading partners can potentially disrupt trade and commerce of grain products.

The American Corn Growers Foundation (ACGF) surveyed 1,057 grain elevators during April 2007 in the eighteen (18) states that produce the majority of U. S. grain. ”Only 26% of the elevators surveyed report that they require the segregation of GMO (genetically modified) varieties from Non-GMO varieties. This finding raises concerns about the ability of the U.S. to hold on to the critical corn gluten export market that is so important to the future health of our ethanol sector,” reports Dan McGuire, Director of the ACGF Farmer Choice-Customer First program.

The significant cost savings to be had through using transgenic livestock instead of traditional methods of protein production have been well documented, and comparisons make for stark reading. To illustrate, experts have estimated that producing a single gram of therapeutic protein using traditional cell lines such as Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells can cost anywhere from $300 to $3,000 (€221 to €2210). In contrast, using a transgenic goat to produce the protein in milk drops the cost to $20-$105 per gram, and transgenic hen eggs are even cheaper, working out at around $0.1-$0.25 per gram of protein