Europe is in a spin over genetically modified (GM) crops. The EU is struggling to find an acceptable way to label such novel foods, and in Ireland, the first attempt to test the suitability of growing GM foods here has been legally challenged.
In the face of such tumult, Arnold Donald, senior vice-president of Monsanto, the global leader in the production of GM crop technology, seems amazingly philosophical.
He acknowledges it takes time to be comfortable with the newness of the technology which is largely US-generated. It's "a new era and new science" that will dominate global food production. Over time, he believes, people will come to accept it as being beneficial to them. "Looking at the scales, the rewards and benefit for the planet far exceed the risks," he maintains.
Mr Donald has been to the forefront of introducing that technology to the world since 1992 when he was made responsible for Monsanto's crop protection products division. Within the US, there is widespread acceptance of the plant biotechnology involved. Europe, however, is at the other extreme. At times within the latter context, he accepts there seems to be a propaganda war in the media.
For Monsanto, it came down to deciding whether to present facts supported by third parties such as scientists and research organisations, or to speak out itself. In the end, it decided to do both probably due to the vociferousness of many in the anti-camp and, what the company says are, frequent unfounded claims from some quarters.
Within the Irish context, no matter how positive the outcome for the company of the High Court challenge to its Irish beet trials by Genetic Concern, Mr Donald believes it probably will not be the end of the problem. The learning process will take time. New standards and evaluation processes have to be put in place.
Mr Donald was part of the US trade delegation which visited the North in recent weeks in the wake of the Belfast Agreement. He also paid a short visit to Dublin where he was briefed on the case and the company's operations within the Republic.
His visit to the North, he says, was a way for his company to be supportive of an event that was important in world history. It was not because Monsanto is planning significant investment there in the short-term though it is always on the look-out for opportunities for collaboration on biotechnology research.
The company's future course is set on finding sustainable opportunities encompassing pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food/nutrition. As of June 1st last, that future is harnessed to pharmaceuticals giant American Home Products. This follows a $34 billion merger creating a broad-based "life sciences" group operating in those sectors.
Mr Donald has no doubt that once "a merger of huge proportions" is completed, it will have beneficial ramifications for the island of Ireland. AHP already has operations in Askeaton, Co Limerick and Newbridge, Co Kildare.
The Guardian greeted the merger with a headline saying it creates "a lifesciences monster"; another indication that gene technology and seed ownership would soon be in the hands of just a few mega-corporations. Mr Donald emphatically rejects such a senario.
The combined company will have a market capitalisation in excess of $96 billion, but he points to health and nutrition accounting for 75 per cent of gross domestic product globally. Accordingly, companies worth $300 billion to $400 billion in that sector would be "a small part of that process".
Monsanto, he says, is not going to own all the seed even if it wanted to. "We are not going to own all the enabling technology. We are not going to own all of the traits and genes. It's just not going to happen. We expect to be a leader but we have no delusion of grandeur."
He accepts it is not good for Monsanto and a few others to dominate. It is important, for creativity, to have a mix of big and small. He says Monsanto is not so pompous to think it could force its products onto markets using the strong arm of trade agreements, especially within the European context. There is, he says, a global trend towards using the technology. It is the view of his company that environmental benefits will accrue from such use. Should Europe choose to opt out of these developments it will be left behind.
He says the company, nonetheless, would "encourage reasonable well thought-out evaluations" of new products, and remain opposed to labelling of GM foods that "confuse or misinform" the public.
Buying seed companies, as Monsanto has done, is not a process of buying market access but of buying plant breeding capabilities by way of alliances, he says. Traits such as resistance to herbicide and a better nutritional composition are wonderful "but we have to get them into the plants that consumers would like" Monsanto points to 66 per cent of seeds being state-owned or home-saved, ruling out the possibility of monopoly.
Gene technology is no longer about Round-Up-ready soya beans or cotton with in-built protection from pests. Those simply were the first traits to become commercially available. "There's going to be a plethora of traits that will have a far more direct impact on the consumer."
These will relate to "health, nutrition and wellness". They have gone beyond the research stage. It is a question of when, not if, they come on the market. Quality traits will include, for example, french fries that absorb less soya oil when fried (giving better health characteristics), and therapeutics available through food. Further down the road, Mr Donald predicts, will be the use of "plants as factories"; for instance, the generation of biodegradable plastic.
All this is being pursued to ensure "the sustainability of scarce resources". Mr Donald is the first to acknowledge such an aim "sounds hifalutin" but that, he insists, is the end result his company wishes to achieve.
