Genetically modified wheat is in the works again, but are we ready for it?

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — At the heart of Monsanto’s global research operation is a structure with a rather ordinary name. But on the fourth floor of Building GG is a room where the future of wheat may be changing.

The facility has dozens of rooms just like it. But inside this particular 10-foot by 20-foot growth chamber — whose mirrored walls and sun-bright lamps can imitate the weather of any U.S. field — is a batch of young wheat plants.

They’re part of an intensive effort to use breeding and gene manipulation to make a new kind of wheat. The plants represent several years’ worth of work aimed at creating a plant that’s resistant to a trio of herbicides.

The research has the attention of supporters and critics alike.