Genetically Modified Sugarcane: A Case for Alternate Products

The Australian sugar industry has been suffering from low world sugar prices over the past decade, increasingly competitive world markets for sugar, and the recent strengthening of the Australian dollar. Keating, Antony, Brennan, and Wegener (2002) suggested that the industry will need to diversify into other forms of value-added products to regain former levels of profitability, since productivity gains of the order of 2–3% per year are needed just to meet the cost-price squeeze faced by Australian farmers. Although existing lines of research made sugarcane production more efficient, a step up to new levels of profitability is needed in the industry—and that will depend on creating and applying new knowledge. Due to the potential for new alternative uses for cane, such as supplying high-value niche markets with a variety of products, Hildebrand (2002) also emphasized the need for further analyses into product diversification as a way of increasing industry returns. A new Cooperative Research Center (CRC for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology) was created in July 2003. This collaborative research joint venture seeks to make sugarcane production more profitable through cane improvement and industry diversification through the application of biotechnology. Such new approaches to plant improvement might enable the cane plant to store higher levels of sucrose or to produce and store new products with wider markets than sugar. Potential improvements include higher production levels (through higher sucrose content and longer harvest seasons) with some potential for reduced environmental impact, possibly achieved by developing varieties that use water and nitrogen more efficiently, by decreasing the dependence on applied chemicals to control pests and diseases, and by the creation of a renewable source of biodegradable end products (potentially including bioplastics and pharmaceuticals). As Keating et al. (2002) pointed out, the advantage from such new knowledge will go to those who can use it first. The successful development and utilization of transgenic canes (with new genes incorporated by genetic engineering) could therefore have a key role to play in the survival of the Australian sugar industry. The benefits from these developments could spread across the industry from research institutes—including BSES Limited (formerly Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations) and its collaborators, who are involved in developing canes with new attributes—to other industry stakeholders and eventually to consumers. These new canes would embody protected intellectual property; industry partners would benefit commercially from having access to raw materials from a renewable source to be used in consumer products. Consumers would also Janet Grice, M.K. Wegener, L.M. Romanach, and S. Paton The University of Queensland