FARMERS who embrace genetically modified crops will become slaves to biotechnology companies, the vice-president of Canada’s National Farmers Union has warned Australia’s agricultural sector. Terry Boehm, a canola grower who is on a four-state speaking tour, said the introduction of genetically modified canola in his homeland more than a decade ago had impoverished farmers and led to an exodus from the land. Biotechnology companies charged farmers a very high price, he said, and switching to GM had cost Canada its European market.

Canola is possibly the worst candidate crop species for practical segregation of GE and non-GE because it is inherently promiscuous. In Canada, we have witnessed the promiscuity of GE canola to the extent that even in our canola seed production systems, where the objective is to keep seed varieties free from foreign genes, more than 90 per cent of certified Canadian canola seed samples contain unintended transgenes (GE). This has led Canadian farmers to expect GE canola in any canola they grow, whether it is GE or not. [...] In Canada, we no longer export canola to countries that expect it to be GE-free, including many European Union nations, and growing organic canola in western Canada is no longer at all practical.

Perth-based biotechnology company, NemGenix Pty Ltd, has secured a $500,000 investment from the Murdoch Westscheme Enterprise Partnership fund, which supports projects arising from the university. [...] NemGenix’s chief executive Dr Sean Hird said with climate change and a growing world population, there was now acceptance that GM crop development will play a pivotal role in increasing global food production.

More than 40 people gathered at the Katoomba YHA on February 2 to demand that the Labor state governments in NSW and Victoria overturn their decisions to end the ban on the commercial growing of genetically modified (GM) canola. From March this year, NSW farmers can apply to grow GM canola. A highlight of the seminar was a video of Dr Judy Carman, an internationally recognised Australian epidemiologist, talking about the risks posed by GM crops and foods. The meeting was organised by the Katoomba-based Blue Mountains Food Co-op, the directors of which have called for GM food crops to remain banned in NSW and Victoria.

One of the heads of Canada’s National Farmers Union (NFU) is touring Australia warning about his experiences with using GM - or GE (genetically engineered), as it is known in Canada. [...] Greenpeace and the Network of Concerned Farmers (NCF) have brought him here to warn Australian farmers against planting genetically modified canola seeds. ”It’s not a magic bullet, [neither] genetic engineering nor herbicide tolerant crops are a magic bullet,” Mr Boehm said.

Independent supermarket chain Foodland will not use genetically modified (GM) ingredients in its own range of products following feedback from customers. The company, which operates 109 stores in South Australia, the Northern Territory and New South Wales, has also called for better labelling laws to ensure consumers can make an informed choice on whether or not to buy any goods that contain GM ingredients. Foodland SA chief executive Russell Markham said customers had overwhelmingly indicated they did not want GM ingredients in any of the chain’s 160 Foodland-branded products.

The Say No to GMO campaign launched a new petition in Western Australia this month, asking that liability for contamination of non-genetically modified crops rest with those responsible for bringing GM crops or food into the state. [...] Campaigner Janet Grogan told Green Left Weekly that the petition aimed to turn the liability issue around: ”Instead of farmers suffering the double burden of unwanted contamination and royalty payments or prosecution, we are saying liability must be worn by the biotech companies themselves.”

Australia’s agriculture minister on Thursday hailed genetically modified crops as a means to help farmers combat climate change, as data showed 2007 was the country’s sixth hottest year on record. Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said Australia’s farmers needed to face up to climate change, foreshadowing major changes to drought relief payments worth billions of dollars. Burke said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s recently-elected government wanted to improve farmers’ ability to deal with climate change, rather than simply propping them up as they struggled through the worst drought in a century.

Dairy farmers on the New South Wales far south coast have been told they will need to look to genetically modified (GM) crops if their industry is to meet increasing international and national demand for dairy products. Max Roberts from Bega has been elected to his second term as chairman of Dairy Australia. [...] He says that criticisms of the use of GM stock products have been what he describes as ”uninformed”.

GENETICALLY modified crops will play a critical role in alleviating malnutrition, combating climate change and removing allergens from food — and the technology must be embraced in Australia, according to Australia’s top scientists. [...] But Bob Phelps, of Gene Ethics, said the report was biased and a ”bunch of lies”. He said there were no drought-tolerant GM crops, so the technology could not combat climate change, and herbicide-resistant species meant crops were sprayed with more chemicals.