MACEDON beekeeper Graham Connell says genetically modified crops could bankrupt his business because there is no state registry on farms using GM. In February the State Government allowed GM varieties of canola into Victoria for the first time. But Mr Connell, with 40 bee hives, said he had no way of knowing which canola farms were GM-free.

Wheat genetically modified to tolerate drought would boost crop yields and may help the world resolve a food crisis, an Australian state researcher said. Australia, forecast to be the third-biggest exporter of the grain, is developing a modified wheat that could be released on the global market in five to 10 years, said German Spangenberg, executive director at Victorian AgriBiosciences Centre. Adoption of GMO wheat, not grown commercially by global producers, is inevitable for food security, he said in an interview in Tokyo.

Starvation, malnutrition and poverty continually stalk vulnerable members of the human family. Yet on World Food Day 2007, the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jacques Diouf, confirmed that, ”Our planet produces enough food to feed its entire population”. More food production is not the only answer to world hunger. Propaganda claims Genetically Manipulated (GM) crops, plants and animals will produce more food to ”feed the world”. False GM promises take scarce resources away from solving the real systemic problems created by intensive GM, oil-dependent farming, including ecological disruption and hunger.

For the first time in Australia, the GRDC funded GM canola coexistence protocols were explained to oround 120 farmers in Williams, WA last night . Participants soon became aware that supplying non-GM markets for market specification is not a viable option if GM crops are commercially released under these existing protocols that have been widely endorsed by farming groups and industry partipants. There was outrage in the audience as farmers became aware of the impositions imposed on non-GM farmers and disgusted that industry had endorsed the protocols without consideration for farmers wishing to provide a GM-free choice for consumers.

My chief reason for engaging in this debate concerns the Third World. While there is little calorie malnutrition except in areas of disaster or conflict, there is still malnutrition in quality of food. This involves content of protein and essential amino acids as well as micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron and iodine. GM technology offers the hope of devising staple crops richer in these essential constituents. Ought we to constrain the research that brings these about? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for one, thinks not. And Monsanto believes that GM technology offers the hope of doubled crop yields per hectare of arable land. A hungry world needs such research.

Drought-tolerant wheat developed in Victoria, Australia is returning yields up to 20 per cent higher than non-GM control crops, the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, today announced at the BIO International Convention. [...] ”These initial results are very promising and suggest that these genetically modified wheat lines may be part of the solution to help farmers maintain and improve their crop yields in a changing global environment,” Mr. Brumby said.

THE Australian Grain Harvesters Association (AGHA) is becoming increasingly concerned about the implications of handling genetically-modified (GM) canola crops as the countdown to this year’s harvest gets under way. Already, there is talk of members boycotting properties growing GM canola for fear of spreading seed into non-GM canola paddocks. At issue are the legal implications which might eventuate should header operators unintentionally spread GM canola seeds when moving between properties.

The Australian Government has sprung a genetically-engineered cat among the organic pigeons with a recent report claiming that Australia is dipping out on billions of dollars of income by not farming genetically modified (GM, or genetically engineered - GE) grain crops. The study by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) argues that Australia would be about $7 billion better off over 10 years, if five types of GM crops were introduced as soon as possible.

The Western Australian Pastoralists and Graziers Association is calling on the State Government to reconsider its stance on genetically modified (GM) crops. [...] The WA Farmers Federation believes adequate testing of GM foods has been done and says the state will be left behind if it does not start developing GM crops. Federation president Mike Norton says he is puzzled by the Premier’s stance. ”I’m rather mystified by his comments,” he said.

There have been renewed calls for the State Government to retain its moratorium on growing genetically modified (GM) crops. Members of the WA Conservation Council and members of the Japanese Consumers Union today presented a 20,000-strong petition to WA Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance. The petition voices concerns over the safety and environmental impacts of GM foods. Japan is the State’s largest customer for canola and cereal crops, with the industry valued at $550million per year.