Wheat, amongst many, has become the low-tech stepchild of US row crops. Over the last 30 years, America’s farmers have increasingly ditched conventional wheat acres for more profitable genetically modified (GM) corn and soybeans. This year, they intend to plant the fewest wheat acres since the USDA began keeping records over a century ago. But seed companies are now betting billions that GM technology could turn wheat back into a profitable crop for US farmers. The question is, will other countries buy it?
The debate over genetically modified wheat has been ongoing for decades now. However, wheat’s DNA is much more complex than corn and soybeans, so it was economically prohibitive to develop until more recent breakthroughs. Advances have lowered costs enough that research into hybrid and GMO wheat varieties is now booming, and commercialization in the US could be just a couple of years away.
The main argument against GM wheat is that it could damage US trade. This is largely because of an industry fear that global consumers will reject genetically altered wheat. Unlike corn and soybeans, most of which go toward animal feed, much of the wheat harvested in the US and around the world goes directly into the human food supply chain.
US trade partners have varied but stringent rules regarding GM materials. If a company wants to introduce a new GM crop, they need to be sure our trade partners are on board, or they risk getting the whole US industry locked out. It’s happened before.
One of the worst cases was tied to Syngenta’s “Agrisure Viptera” (MIR162) corn trait, which was commercialized without import approval from China. In November of 2013, China began rejecting all corn from the U.S. , saying it was contaminated with the unapproved GMO trait. Banned corn included even that from farmers who had not purchased Syngenta seed. As a result, the price of corn fell from over $7.00/bushel in June 2013 to $3.25/bushel by June 2014, costing U.S. corn farmers billions of dollars.
Attitudes toward genetic modification have eased a bit in recent years, at least within some global governments. As the world’s climate continues to shift and concerns about food scarcity increase, many industry insiders are hopeful that GM technology’s benefits will finally start to overcome more of the long-held but baseless fears.
GM wheat could potentially benefit both farmers and consumers. For wheat farmers in the US, seed developers believe the new GM traits could return the producer to profitability, thanks to traits that protect against environmental challenges like drought or promote higher yields. For consumers, it could mean larger, more stable supplies, which should translate into more stable, possibly cheaper prices.
Major seed makers Corteva and Syngenta are both developing new hybrid wheat varieties. Corteva is working on a hard red winter wheat variety that can allegedly boost yields as much as +20%, and planned for introduction to the US market in 2027.
Meanwhile, Syngenta has already been selling its hybrid “Xterra” wheat that boasts “yield stability, resiliency to stress, and overall agronomic performance.” US acreage of the hybrid only reached 12,000 to 15,000 in 2025, though, out of roughly 45 million total wheat acres.
Additionally, Argentina’s “Bioceres Crop Solutions” has partnered with the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation to advance “HB4” wheat in the US. The HB4 trait is a drought tolerance technology derived from sunflowers. The USDA approved the trait in 2024 but it hasn’t moved beyond testing. Researchers are conducting tests to determine whether the trait will be effective for wheat grown on the U.S. plains. (Sources: Reuters, Capital Press, Seed World, USDA)
