Farm Progress America, May 15, 2024

For years, China has been cautious of genetically modified grains.

Recently, Beijing leaders have allowed the importation of genetically modified corn and soybeans to be use for animal feed while restricting production to non-genetically modified food consumption for humans.

However, the last years, government has began to approve the use of GMO crops for livestock feed and for human consumption.

Just last week, China approved the first gene-edited wheat for commercial use which is disease resistant. This is a big deal for wheat since it is a staple food in China.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of wheat.

China has approved 30 varieties of GMO or gene-edited seed corn to be used on a limited number of acres along with a limited number of soybean varieties.

More approvals could have implication on American farmers in the future and massive implications on trade flow.

Farm Progress America is a daily look at key issues in agriculture. It is produced and presented by Mike Pearson, farm broadcaster and host of This Week in Agribusiness .