'Better' pineapple still sought
| • | Chart: Papaya experience tells story |
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's pineapple industry is pushing ahead with efforts to engineer a better pineapple genetically, though a commercial version may be five or six years away.
Advertiser library photo • July 29, 2001
The University of Hawai'i, which is working on the project with the Hawai'i Agriculture Research Center, recently received federal approval to conduct open-field trials of a pineapple modified with genes from rice.
Robert Moon of Waikiki sampled pineapple offered by Cherrylin Pascua of Del Monte Produce at a Pineapple Festival at Ala Moana Beach Park in July 2001. The state is losing fresh pineapple sales to foreign producers.
But creating a heartier pineapple is proving more difficult than past experiments creating papayas genetically modified to resist the ringspot virus.
"Right now it's going well, but there have been some difficulties," said Robert Paull, chairman of the Department Tropical Plants and Soil Sciences at UH-Manoa. "Pineapple is not as easy to work with as papaya."
With support from Hawai'i's three pineapple growers — Maui Pineapple Co., Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. and Dole Food Co. Inc. — UH launched an effort in 1995 to design a pineapple resistant to nematodes and mealybugs, and that would flower uniformly so fields wouldn't have to be picked repeatedly.
Hawai'i's slice of the U.S. fresh-pineapple market fell to about 21 percent in 2002, from nearly 24 percent in 2001, despite increased production, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The top foreign producers were Costa Rica, Mexico and Ecuador.
Pineapples are Hawai'i's largest agricultural crop. The industry employs 1,300 people, and sales last year grew 4 percent to $100.6 million, in part because of higher sales of fresh pineapple, according to the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service.
Genetic research could create problems for the industry's image. While genetically modified foods are generally accepted in the United States, large markets such as Europe and Japan remain leery.
Dough Schenk, president of Maui Pineapple and of the Pineapple Growers Association of Hawaii, acknowledged the risk. But he said not proceeding also could be risky, if traditional means of controlling pests become ineffective or unavailable.
UH said it has not yet field-tested genetically modified pineapple, although it has permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to do so. "There's a huge concern" about growing it, Schenk said, though he noted, "This stuff is years and years away. It's all about technology and research into problems that in the future we may need to call upon."
If history is any indication, such research may be warranted. In the early 1990s, the Big Island's papaya industry, which accounts for the bulk of the state's production, was nearly destroyed by the papaya ringspot virus.
When the virus was first detected in 1992, island production of papaya totaled 68.5 million pounds. It fell to 31 million pounds in 1998, about a year before genetically modified papaya seeds were ready to plant. Through September, Big Island papaya production was up about 9 percent from last year, to 27.4 million pounds.
Nevertheless, opponents of genetic crop research and genetically modified food say not enough is known about the long-term impact of such products. They point out that many countries, including Japan, won't touch them.
Genetic engineering "did save the papaya industry," said Nancy Redfeather, a director for the Hawaii Genetic Engineering
Action Network. But "there were other solutions to the problem that weren't looked at," such as cutting down the island's papaya crop and starting over.
"The biggest concern that people are feeling today is (that) the research into how this affects the ecosystem and the human body hasn't been done."
Researchers counter that the benefits outweigh the known risks.
"Until we see some problem in the process, we assume that the technology is going to be beneficial and should be used in conjunction with traditional methods," said Richard Manshardt, a UH professor of horticulture who conducted field trials of genetically modified papayas.
"The important, significant fact of all this is, if it weren't for these virus-resistant cultivars, the downward trend on the Big Island would have continued."
Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.
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