Monsanto stopped research into a GM herbicide tolerant wheat in 2004, because of consumer opposition.

However, last week it announced the purchase of WestBred, a Montana, US, based company specialising in wheat germplasm, as reported on FarmOnline

Monsanto officials in America said it would no longer be focusing on herbicide tolerance, but newer traits such as drought tolerance and high yielding lines.

"The U.S. wheat industry has come together to call for new technology investment, and we believe we have game-changing technologies - like our drought-tolerance and improved-yield traits - that can meaningfully address major challenges wheat growers face every season," said Carl Casale, executive vice president of global strategy and operations for Monsanto.

"Through WestBred, we'll be able to deliver advances in breeding and biotechnology to deliver a step-change in yield while creating a springboard for new partnerships and collaboration opportunities that create additional value for farmers,” he said.

Monsanto announced it planned to have traits for drought tolerance and nitrogen fixing introduced by 2020.

But the news has not pleased all – anti-GM lobby group have been reported as saying the idea is a waste of money.

There are currently no commercial GM wheat crops being grown anywhere in the world.

Wheat is one of the hardest food crops to manipulate because of its complex genetic layout.