The commercialisation of GM canola in Australia is likely to have only negligible direct impacts on the organic canola, livestock and honey industries according to a new ABARE report. [...] The report investigates the potential economic impacts of the commercialisation of GM canola in Australia on domestic organic agriculture, and looks into the treatment of GMOs in organic certification standards in Australia and in Australia’s main organic trade partners.

Allowing authorities to release genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the event of an emergency would be too risky, the Greens say. Parliamentary secretary for health Dr Brett Mason said the Gene Technology Amendment Bill 2007 would give the health minister the right to release such organisms on the advice of experts in the event of a GMO release gone wrong.

The federal government will be able to release untested genetically modified organisms into the environment under proposed new emergency response laws, activists say. Greenpeace and Gene Ethics told a parliamentary inquiry in separate submissions they were concerned that the broad terms of proposed legislation could allow governments to release potentially dangerous biological agents for almost any reason. [...] A clause in the proposed amendment would allow the minister to speed up the release of a genetically modified organism (GMO) in response to an emergency.

It may not be quite as salt-loving as a mangrove, but scientists have discovered that wheat has more in common with the coastal dweller than anyone realised. The Molecular Plant Breeding CRC’s Dr Yusuf Genc has found that different varieties of wheat have different ways of dealing with salinity. The research has implications for cereal breeders, who have long sought to breed varieties that are resistant to salinity.

Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance today said a recent French university study that had revealed the potential harm of GM food was further support for Western Australia’s moratorium on the commercial production of GM crops. Mr Chance pointed to an independent study conducted by French researchers and scientists from the universities of Caen and Rouen, which found that rats fed on Monsanto’s MON863 genetically modified corn had significant reductions in growth and adverse effects on liver and kidney function after 90 days of consumption.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) says the state’s grain growers are suffering in international markets because they cannot grow genetically modified (GM) crops. New VFF grains president Geoff Nalder says he will be campaigning this year for the State Government to lift the moratorium on GM crops.

One of Australia’s top organic farming experts, Dr Maarten Stapper, has been dumped by the CSIRO, amid allegations he was bullied by executive management for criticising genetically modified crops.

The chief of CSIRO’s Plant Industry division, Dr Jeremy Burdon, confirmed Dr Stapper had recently filed complaints alleging instances of bullying and harassment but these had been ” appropriately dealt with and dismissed”. Dr Stapper is researching carbon loss in soils, restoring soil fertility by improving soil microbiology and use of biological farming methods to improve wheat yields in south-western NSW. He has been retrenched from CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra and will leave at the end of the month.

The Perth biotechnology firm, Grain Biotech Australia, says the moratorium by the government on GM crops is largely to blame for its decision to shut down. GBA has been working to develop a genetically modified salt-tolerant variety of wheat, and received one-off funding of more than one and a half million dollars from the Grains Research and Development Corporation. But GBA business development manager, Alan Tough, says that hasn’t been enough and it now looks like their research will be in vain. Mr Tough says the benefits of the work they’ve already done would be to add $23 a tonne to WA grain prices. He says investors are reticent to inject more funds into the company while there is an uncertain future around GM crops.

AUSTRALIA is falling behind in the rapid world growth of more productive biotech crops, such as drought-tolerant and pest resistant strains, the former deputy prime minister says. ”Food versus fuel” fights over the diversion of crops to biofuels threaten to hit Australia unless this country dramatically upgrades crop development, John Anderson believes. The Nationals MP has called for a rethink on the states’ bans against genetically-modified food crops. ”If we are going to avoid an ugly stand-off over food versus fuel, we are going to have to spend a lot more on plant research … because it is very likely that a large part of the answer on renewable energy will be biofuels,” Mr Anderson told the Herald.

The use of new genetic engineering technologies in the production of food crops poses unknown health risks, Columban Fr Charles Rue says, in a call for an informed Catholic voice on genetically modified foods in the lead up to the NSW election. In a statement issued this week, the Columban Missionary Society says it is concerned that a future NSW Government will lift its moratorium on the commercial growing of genetically modified food crops in the state.