Copyright 1999 The Omaha World-Herald Company
Omaha
World-Herald
May 24, 1999, Monday SUNRISE EDITION
SECTION: ;NEWS; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 3001 words
HEADLINE:
Today's High-Tech Harvest Farms and ranches at the end of the 20th century have
evolved into high-tech businesses relying as much on computers and biogenetics
as the machinery turning the soil Agricultural Milestones A Century of
Agricultural Evolution Glossary
BYLINE: BILL HORD
SOURCE: WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
DATELINE: Lincoln
BODY:
Barbara is a good mother.
Her offspring go on to big things. They
provide consistently good-quality beef and are good milkers. One of her calves
even rose to stardom as a grand champion bull.
All the better, then, for
owners Chuck and Linda Pohlman that through the wonders of biotechnology Barbara
has had 32 calves - only seven of which she gave birth to nature's way. She also
has 36 grandsons and granddaughters.
The transfer of embryos from
Barbara (registered as Pohlman's Barbara 13487, a purebred Angus), to other
surrogate mothers is an example of how technology is changing life on the farm
and ranch.
To see the impact, American consumers have only to look at
the diversity of products on supermarket shelves. And at their grocery bills,
which now consume less of the average annual income than decades ago.
More change is coming, including such bio-tech wonders as cloning and
the creation of plants and animals with qualities from multiple species.
The changes hold opportunity for farmers. But they aren't being
universally welcomed. Some nations have rejected high-tech U.S. farm products.
And some farmers fear they'll lose more control over their work and livelihoods.
"Even though life on the farm has seen a lot of changes in the last 100
years," Chuck Pohlman said, "the pace of change is picking up."
Biotechnology, the alteration of living organisms to make products, has
its roots in biochemical discoveries early in the 20th century. It is
overwhelming agriculture going into the 21st century.
"Biochemistry was
the minor leagues, and biotechnology is the major leagues," said Bob Graybosch,
a University of Nebraska-Lincoln geneticist.
The embryo work on Barbara
is done on a farm north of Norfolk, where Chuck Pohlman grew up watching his
father till with teams of horses.
It's where he once rode a cultivator
to rid soybean rows of weeds. The old cultivator gathers dust now, because
Roundup Ready beans are genetically engineered so they won't be damaged when
spraying for weeds with Roundup herbicide.
"It kills everything except
the soybean," Pohlman said.
Scientists aren't just moving embryos from
animal to animal. They are splitting genes to ensure that the farm product -
plant or animal - will be exactly what was intended. Like never before, a farmer
can reap what he sows.
"I'm wondering what's going to happen in the
future," said Ted Givens, director of research for NC+ Hybrids Co., a Lincoln
seed-producing company owned by 15 farmers. "It's exciting, but also
troublesome."
Now agriculture is at the forefront of one of the planet's
most dramatic developments - the deciphering of the code of life and the
creation of companies whose main purpose is to manipulate life.
The
foundations for today's technology go back to Austrian monk Gregor Mendel, who
discovered the principles of genetics in 1866.
By 1914, scientists had
discovered that crossbred plants had more vitality, a phenomenon known as
"hybrid vigor." Later, they learned that the same phenomenon occurred when
animals were crossbred.
Yields for the No. 1 Midlands crop, corn,
averaged about 25 bushels an acre in the first three decades of the century,
including the Dust Bowl days of the'30s.
They began to soar with the
help of seed hybrids, pesticides and herbicides.
Hybrid corn was
introduced in Iowa in 1928. By the early 1940s, it was planted on virtually all
corn acres in the state. The hybrids allowed denser planting and were more
resistant to insects. By 1950, the Corn Belt was all hybrids.
Average
corn yields rose to 34 bushels in the'40s and 44 in the '50sto 120 in the'90s.
By crossbreeding the nearly 1,000 corn varieties that existed at the
turn of the century, biologists created improved hybrid plants. Wheat varieties
were bred to create semi-dwarf wheat, which was shorter than earlier popular
varieties and would stand sturdy even when invigorated with fertilizer and
irrigation.
But for all its benefits, crossbreeding of plants and
animals was only the beginning of where technology would take agriculture in the
20th century.
Manipulation of genes in the laboratory changed the rules
in the soil and on the ranch.
Instead of spraying weeds and insects,
crops can be their own little soldiers, killing what attacks them. Already, Bt
corn will react with ingredients in the soil to slay a corn borer.
Life-sciences companies like Novartis and Monsanto have created
genetically altered crops that tolerate their own herbicides.
Other
life-sciences companies have followed suit, luring farmers to shift acres from
wheat, corn and other crops to beans.
"You change from weed-control
treatments that weren't very effective to one that is almost 100 percent
effective," said Peter Mascio, seed biotechnology manager for Cargill Inc.
Mascio said the impact of insect-resistant seeds, the Bt varieties, is
staggering.
Bt corn, which was planted to about 10 percent of corn acres
in 1998, is expected to spread to 50 percent of the acres by next year, Mascio
said.
The century also brought the first use of frozen semen and the
transfer of embryos so that cows that can't match Barbara's qualities can now
give birth to her calves.
The pork industry has benefited dramatically
as it turns out one pork chop after another that is of the same quality as the
one before.
Cattlemen in Nebraska's Sand Hills have long been breeding
to improve quality. At the turn of the century, Texas longhorns still dominated
the landscape and cattle were raised almost totally on grass.
Cattlemen
began importing breeds from England, and for decades brown-and-white Herefords
and Black Angus reigned supreme. The new breeds provided juicier steaks,
especially when fattened on grain for half their lives.
In recent years,
many cattlemen bred their Herefords with Angus to take advantage of traits of
both animals. The result is a breed of white-faced "black baldies" now prevalent
in the Sand Hills.
"There was a perception, because the Black Angus has
marbled well, that it was a better animal," said Homer Buell, whose family has
ranched near Bassett since 1883 and converted about half its herd to black
baldy.
Then came the bigger breeds across the Atlantic, such as
Charolais and Limousin from France, further improving the fattening efficiency
of cattle producers. At the turn of the century, most cattle went to market at
age 2 or 3. Now they go at 14 months.
Crossbreeding has brought
diversity to Sand Hills herds, said Terry Klopfenstein, a professor of animal
science at UNL, producing cattle more suited for the environment. But that
diversity also has contributed to one of the beef industry's biggest problems -
lack of consistency in meat.
Newer technology is trying to overcome that
inconsistency by more precisely controlling the genetics - and therefore the
traits - of each animal.
"As cloning matures over the next few years,
production agriculture will have the technology to build herds that are designed
for beef and milk production or for pharmaceuticals and reduce the variation in
each herd," said Michael Bishop, a former Agriculture Department animal
researcher at the University of Nebraska South Central Research and
Extension Center at Clay Center.
Bishop now finds
himself at the cutting edge of the cloning issue as vice president of Infigen
Inc., a livestock genetics company in DeForest, Wis.
Through cloning,
animals could become "biofactories" to replace large industry factories, Bishop
said. "Animals can be maintained at a far cheaper price than a factory," he
said.
Dairymen could select cows that produce milk yielding the best
mozzarella cheese, then clone them for that purpose.
Entire herds of
cattle or hogs could be bred to produce a medical product, such as transplant
organs or antibiotics. Bishop said such transplants are likely to occur before
2010.
By inserting the gene of one organism into the DNA of another
organism - creating "recombinant DNA" - scientists are able to create new forms
of life. The genes from a cold-water fish can improve the frost-resistance of a
tomato plant. The genes from a firefly can make the leaves of a tobacco plant
glow.
"Those changes will forever change the lives of those involved in
agriculture," said Sano Shimoda, a California investment broker for the
biosciences industry.
Many people are like Givens, embracing the new
technology but wondering how changes will play out on farms and ranches.
One question on the minds of many in agriculture is whether farmers will
get their fair share of the value of new products. Will their lives be
controlled by others as they take their place in the fast-developing
agricultural industrial complexes?
Will they be like employees for the
world conglomerates, paid a minimal amount to grow something to order? Or will
they be like business executives who have negotiating power?
"The new
system will not work unless value is shared among all the players in the value
chain, including the farmer," Shimoda said.
Many farmers cringe at the
idea that large companies hold patents on seed technology,
prohibiting farmers from saving some of their seed to plant the following year.
Monsanto has developed technology, not yet in use, that will protect its
own seed patents by inserting a "terminator" gene that would
shut off the patented technology after one crop.
Shimoda said farmers
will need to learn to compete in the new arena. They will need to shift their
focus from "how" to raise crops or livestock to "what" to raise, a fundamental
change of emphasis from the cost of production to the value of the end product.
A focus on the end product could provide the kinds of results
experienced by the Pohlmans, who have reaped $ 215,000 in sales from Barbara's
offspring in a decade.
"You would probably make a third as much" if the
surrogate cows were having their own calves, Linda Pohlman said.
If you
can do so with sons and daughters similar to Barbara, imagine exact replicas.
Remember Dolly, cloned in 1997 as the identical twin of a sheep born several
years earlier? The genetic information for Dolly was drawn by Scottish
embryologist Ian Wilmut from one sheep into the emptied egg of another.
Improved traits through the splitting of genes are already a reality.
Farmers are growing high-oil corn, produced from seeds that have been
genetically engineered to increase the feeding benefits to livestock.
The possibilities for specialty products seem endless.
Grocery
shoppers are expected to find healthier cooking oils, grown from seeds
genetically designed for that purpose.
The attention is going beyond
improvements for feed and food. The health-care industry is almost certain to be
a major customer of agriculture in the 21st century. So is the manufacturing
industry.
A new motor oil made from soybeans, rather than petroleum, is
being tested.
UNL researchers are trying to develop a corn plant to
produce levulinic acid, which has potential uses in food, pharmaceuticals and
industry, including as an antifreeze, a biodegradable plastic and fuel.
Currently, the product comes from petroleum.
"Specifications" may one
day be the key word in agriculture contracts. Customers will order certain food
quality and safety. Like other industries, farmers would get paid for the
quality of their product and the efficiency of production.
Skeptics of
the fast-changing world of agriculture worry that the balance of nature could be
tilted if genetically modified seeds cross-pollinate with other plants.
"I think we have to start with the idea that this is unlike anything we
have every seen," said Jeremy Rifkin of Washington, a prolific author and
opponent of the rush to biogenetics.
Rifkin has called for a worldwide
moratorium against releasing genetically engineered food crops and other
gene-spliced organisms into the environment.
No one knows, he said, how
plants with genes to produce chemicals and drugs would affect
nature if left to run amok among foraging animals, seed-eating birds and soil
insects.
Organic farmers have expressed concern that cross-pollination
of some genetically altered crops could unwittingly infect the "purity" of their
fields.
Concerns about genetic manipulation have complicated trade
negotiations both for livestock and grain.
The European Union, a big
trading partner, is balking. It bans U.S. beef produced with hormones. Last
week, it halted the approval process for a Bt corn after experiments revealed a
high death rate among butterfly larva that were fed milkweed dusted with pollen
from genetically altered corn.
"They perceive that their customers don't
want the stuff," said UNL's Graybosch.
Even those who are racing forward
with the technology agree that it has risks.
"Things are never
risk-free," said Steve Baenziger, a UNL plant breeding specialist. "People need
to ask if, in the history of science, we have generally done better or worse by
accepting new technologies."
Agricultural Milestones
1900:
Scientists revive the work of Austrian monk Gregor Mendel, who published a work
on plant heredity in 1866.
1908: Henry Ford first designs the Model T to
run on alcohol.
1928: Hybrid corn introduced.
1941: Corn hybrids
grown on virtually all Iowa corn acres.
1953: James Watson, Francis
Crick discover the structure of DNA.
1953: Frosty, the first living calf
born to a cow impregnated from frozen semen in the United States, is born
Mid 1960s: Biochemists decipher the genetic code. DNA molecule is now
understood to contain the genetic information for most life forms.
1970:
Clean Air Act jump-starts the production of ethanol as a clean-burning fuel
extender for gasoline.
1970s: Researchers perfect various methods for
splicing foreign DNA into other organisms.
1973: Biologists recombine
DNA from two unrelated organisms to form a new organism with traits of each.
1982: First commercial application of genetic engineering ? human
insulin for diabetes treatment, eventually to almost totally replace insulin
from livestock glands.
1983: First transgenic plant, a tobacco plant
resistant to an antibiotic.
1984: Calf named Lattin born to a cow
impregnated from semen that had been frozen 30 years.
1988: Work begins
on the Human Genome Project, a worldwide effort to map and sequence the
80,000-100,000 human genes, to be completed in 2005. 1994: First
commercialization of a transgenic plant in the United States ? a
delayed-ripening tomato.
1995: Corn that produces its own insecticide is
developed by inserting a gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a natural
pesticide.
1996: Grace is born, a transgenic goat producing an antibody
to fight cancer.
1996: First gene-spliced food crops are planted; the
European Union approves importing pesticide-resistant soybeans.
1996:
Major seed companies introduce Bt corn.
1997: Scottish embryologist Ian
Wilmut announces birth of Dolly, a sheep that is the worlds first clone.
1998: About 25.7 million acres planted with Roundup Ready soybean and
corn seed, genetically altered to withstand the chemicals used to kill weeds.
Glossary
Bt corn: A genetically produced variety that interracts
with soil bacterium (bacillus thuringiensis) to kill European corn borers.
Biotechnology: The application of living organisms to develop new
products.
Double helix: The physical structure of DNA, consisting of two
parallel strands of DNA coiled together.
DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid,
which transfers genetic information from one generation to the next.
Gene: A portion of a chromosome that contains the hereditary information
necessary for the production of a protein.
Genetic Engineering: The
technique of removing, modifying or adding genes to a living organism. Also
called gene splicing, recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology or genetic modification.
Herbicide: A substance used to kill plants, especially weeds.
High-oil corn: Corn hybrid that has superior feeding value in both
poultry and swine and holds promise for food and industrial applications.
Insecticide: A chemical agent used to kill insect pests.
Hybrid:
A plant resulting from a cross between parents that are related but not
genetically identical.
Recombinant DNA (rDNA): Modified DNA produced by
removing, modifying or adding genes to create new DNA.
A Century of
Agricultural Evolution
Pork
Through the late 1940s, pork
producers obliged consumers who wanted lard for cooking by raising relatively
fat hogs. Pork provided the basis for soldiers rations, and pork fat went into
making nitroglycerine for explosives. After World War II, people began thinking
more about health and diet, so producers concentrated on developing a leaner
hog. Today, improved genetics and better feeding practices have resulted in a
market hog 50 percent leaner than in the late 1960s.
Beef
The
beef industry has evolved from the stately Texas longhorn, fed almost totally on
grass, to a variety of breeds that spend half their lives eating grain. The
result is a more tender steak and a more efficient industry. The early part of
the century brought shorthorns, Herefords and Angus across the Atlantic. In
mid-century, breeds like Charolais and Limousin from France, known for their
size, were introduced.
Corn
Leaves on corn plants until about
the 1960s were nearly horizontal to the stalk with a slightly downturned tip.
Leaves on modern corn are stiff and stick up at a farily high angle. Kernels on
modern dent corn, the majority of the corn grown in the United States, are
smoother. Smooth kernels dont splinter as badly in combines. Modern hybrids stay
greener in the field longer into the fall, aiding kernel development. Older
varieties typically suffered premature death.
GRAPHIC: Color Photos/2 MICROCHIP: Computer
chips in the ears of cattle may one day allow producers to track the
effectiveness of feeds, medicines and genetic combinations. Ryan Urkoski, a
student at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb., places a microchip in a
heifer's ear. CHAMPION MOM: The good hereditary qualities of Barbara, a purebred
Angus, are transfered via embryos to other cows. Chuck and Linda Pohlman, who
farm near Norfolk, own Barbara. B&W Photos/7 TINY TECHNOLOGY: Microchips as
small as a fingertip can yield volumes of information about cattle. The chips,
implanted in the animals' ears through a syringe, allow monitoring of animals as
they move from the feedlot to the slaughterhouse.; Bill Batson/World-Herald/2sf
/2 Jeff Bundy/World-Herald/1 Jeff Beiermann/World-Herald/1 Phil
Johnson/World-Herald/1
LOAD-DATE: December 10, 1999
