Germany Begins Harvest of GM Potato Crop

This year BASF has successfully grown 14 hectares at this site. Brüderle stressed that plant biotechnology can play an important role in the competitiveness and sustainability of European agriculture.

Sep 1 2010 --- The German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Rainer Brüderle, helped to start the harvesting of the Amflora potatoes in Zepkow in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Together with BASF’s Chairman Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht and Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, Member of the Board of BASF’s Board of Executive Directors responsible for plant biotechnology, the Minister harvested the first tubers of genetically modified starch potatoes. This year BASF has successfully grown 14 hectares at this site. Brüderle stressed that plant biotechnology can play an important role in the competitiveness and sustainability of European agriculture.
 
“Today is a special day for plant biotechnology in Germany. In the future, the technology promises to provide solutions for many challenges that we are facing, for instance providing an ample supply of renewable resources. German industry is playing in the international premier league with these innovative technologies, and we want to remain there,” said Minister Brüderle.
 
“We are celebrating two milestones. Firstly, we are starting to bring in the Amflora potato harvest and secondly, we applied for approval for our next starch potato, Amadea, in Brussels yesterday,” said Hambrecht. “I hope that Amadea will be available to European farmers in the very near future. Crops optimized through biotechnology should not just provide benefits to farmers in America and Asia. Our European farmers should also get access to innovative products so they can remain competitive on the global agricultural markets,” he added.
 
Amadea is a high-performing modern starch potato. Like Amflora, it produces pure amylopectin starch. Its agronomic properties and safety have been tested in field trials conducted over a number of years. BASF is expecting to launch the product in 2013/14 after receiving a positive safety assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Amadea is initially intended to complement Amflora cultivation and will later substitute BASF’s first starch potato.
 
Numerous farmers and representatives from the German-based initiative "Forum Grüne Vernunft e.V." (Forum for Green Common Sense) were present at the Amflora harvest. “Discussions surrounding the use of genetically modified plants are very emotional in Germany. We want to encourage an objective dialog based on scientific facts,” said Dr. Uwe Schrader, the chairman of the initiative. "This is the only unbiased way of identifying the best solutions for agriculture in Germany."
 
Amflora and Amadea are two genetically modified potato varieties that produce pure amylopectin starch. Conventional potatoes produce a mixture of amylopectin and amylose. In many potato starch applications, for example in the paper, adhesive and food industries, only amylopectin is needed, and separating the two starch components is uneconomical. Amflora and Amadea produce pure amylopectin starch and thus help to save resources, energy as well as costs.
 
Moreover, paper coated with amylopectin starch has a higher gloss, and the addition of amylopectin starch to concrete and adhesives can be processed for a longer period of time.
 
In the case of Amflora, BASF Plant Science and its partners in the starch industry decided to focus on industrial applications.
 
Due to the demand for amylopectin starch in the food industry, BASF Plant Science will be working with its partners to evaluate potential applications for its Amadea potato in this area.