Lee Quaintance, an organic farmer in Edgerton, is concerned about a plan to grow genetically modified rice in Junction City and how it could affect his crops. The world's first crop of genetically modified rice with genes from other organisms may soon be grown in Junction City.

Junction City ? The small paddies of rice that are expected to sprout this year near Junction City hold much promise for Kansas.

As the first crop of commercial rice in the state, the genetically altered grain and the arrival of the company that is growing it is seen as a boon to the local economy.

The plant would be used to produce pharmaceuticals, not food.

“We all think this is huge for the city, the county as well as the state,” said Terry Heldstab, mayor of Junction City, a town of 20,000 with an economy that relies on agriculture and its proximity to Fort Riley.

But not everyone is backing the rice crop. The issue has produced a worldwide debate with some farmers, scientists and environmental groups claiming the rice is a threat.

Plants that have been genetically modified have genes from other organisms transplanted into them to change their traits. Ventria Bioscience, a California-based company, is seeking U.S. Department of Agriculture approval to plant more than 3,000 acres of the genetically altered rice in fields near Junction City. The rice has been engineered to contain human proteins that are found in breast milk, saliva and tears.

The rice would be ground to make a flour used in a rehydration formula for children suffering from chronic diarrhea. According to a USDA report, the rice product also will be used as a supplement in granola bars, yogurts and sports drinks.

Ventria officials declined to be interviewed for the story.

The company’s proposal, which is open for public comment until Friday, has received opposition from Florida to Canada.

But Heldstab said he hasn’t heard any concerns from people in Junction City.

To attract Ventria and its rice crop to Kansas, the state and city offered more than $6 million in grants and loans. The company has plans to hire 50 to 100 people and someday plant as much as 30,000 acres of rice with fields stretching all the way to Topeka.

“Over the next 10 years or so, we are talking hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of economic impact,” said Josh McKim, Junction City Geary County economic development director.

Incentives for farmers

For farmers who decide to grow the rice in their fields, Ventria is offering $150 or more per acre than what they would make on their most profitable crop.

“There are millions of dollars in economic impact,” Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky said. “What is even more exciting to me is the synergy it creates in Kansas.”

Ventria’s plans have been backed by the Kansas Farm Bureau and Kansas State University. But some national groups are questioning the proposal.

The Union of Concerned Scientists fears that the high winds and tornados common in Geary County could transport the grains of rice to fields in other states, mixing with rice intended to be eaten.

Introducing new genes into food plants can create unknown allergies, senior analyst Karen Perry Stillerman said. Furthermore, people eating rice aren’t expecting the grains to contain the ingredients to make pharmaceuticals, she said.

“If you contaminate the food supply, you’ll have chemicals that are not supposed to be in food,” Stillerman said.

When it comes to making sure that plant-producing pharmaceuticals remain out of the food supply, Stillerman said the USDA is not doing enough.

“The only thing that really makes sense is to not grow it in food crops,” Stillerman said.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association – a lobbying group that represents some of the country’s leading food brands such as Dole, Hershey, General Mills and Gerber – is against plant-made pharmaceuticals that use crops that are also grown as food.

Edgerton organic farmer Lee Quaintance, who grows organic wheat, soybean and corn, fears contamination could easily occur from using the same equipment – everything from combines to trucks. Even if just small amounts of genetically altered rice mingles with batches of his grain, Quaintance said his crops would no longer meet organic certification standards.

“Within the conventional grain-handling system, it is not designed to keep stuff segregated and separated that much,” he said. “(Contamination) will happen.”

USDA safeguards

The USDA does place stricter regulations on crops that are genetically modified to produce drugs as opposed to those that are used for food, USDA spokeswoman Rachel Iadicicco said.

A 50-foot barrier has to go around the rice fields, and farmers must use equipment dedicated to cultivating the rice, according to a USDA report.

Last year, Polansky visited Ventria’s test fields in North Carolina.

“It’s very safe in terms of how they operate,” Polansky said. “I feel very secure and very comfortable about the protocols of the company and about the oversight of the USDA.”

Ralph Tomlinson, an Olathe resident, doesn’t share Polansky’s confidence in the USDA’s oversight. He points to the more than 100 incidents of contamination from genetically modified plants in the past 15 years.

Tomlinson’s 6-year-old son, Martin, suffers from severe food allergies. Tomlinson fears that if Ventria’s rice crop mixes with rice that is intended to be eaten, a food would be on the market that his son would be allergic to.

“We are not getting all the information on this that we need. They are doing this huge open-air experiment, and all of us are the guinea pigs,” Tomlinson said. “So it is really frightening.”

Polansky points out that 80 percent to 90 percent of the soybean and corn grown in Kansas is already genetically modified, and changing the traits of plants is something that has been occurring for thousands of years. So far, the effects have been good, he said.

Geary County agriculture extension agent Chuck Otte also doesn’t think the genetically modified rice will harm farmers or the food supply.

With a master’s degree in plant breeding and plant genetics, Otte has been studying rice production since he heard plans last summer that the crop could be grown in Geary County.

Otte said the facts that the rice is not grown in Kansas and can’t cross pollinate with other crops grown in the state eases his concerns. Even if the rice is spilled or scattered, chances are it wouldn’t survive the winter, he said.

Only the farmers with irrigation systems will be able to grow rice in Geary County, Otte said. He predicts that for the first few years, the rice will be covered in the more traditional paddies under 6 inches of water for weed control. Brims and dikes would have to be built.

Over time, Otte said, farmers will probably use irrigation sprinklers.

Otte and other officials have said it takes about the same amount of water to grow rice as it does corn.

While Otte is comfortable with genetically altered rice growing in Geary County, he recognizes the progress of biotechnology has its concerns.

“One of the problems we’re facing is the fact that science is advancing far faster than society’s ability to comprehend what is happening,” Otte said.

See what people are saying on the street

How to comment on the issue:

Go to http://www.regulations.gov. In the agency drop-down menu selected the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Then type 2007-0006 in the keyword or ID box andclick on the Submit button.