STRONG prices for canola have meant farmers have flocked to the crop, with this year’s seeding forecast to be up by 245,000 hectares on the 2010-11 season. Prices are hovering at about $580 a tonne port, with a slight premium in South Australia [...] ”The Europeans don’t buy GM canola, so South Australia’s status as GM-free is leading to a small premium to east coast non-GM prices,” [Emerald Group’s general manager of trading Chris Kochanski] said.

AUSTRALIA’S first trial of genetically modified wheat and barley has begun near Narrabri in NSW, with the ultimate goal of producing more nutritious bread. But details of how exactly the genes were altered remain secret. The CSIRO, which is running the three-year experiment, said the various gene combinations in the trial were subject to commercial-in-confidence agreements to protect the interests of various government research agencies and a US company, Arcadia Biosciences.

Two of Australia’s biggest grain traders say they have no plans to take genetically modified canola this season. Elders-Toepfer Grain acting WA accumulations manager Ben Noll said the company was not currently taking GM canola and that was unlikely to change as the season progressed. ”From where we sit at the moment, we’re all non-GM, ” he said. ”We’re in the process of being involved in certification for the sustainability of canola products.”

WA farmer Doug Wright farmed in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, in 1985 and watched genetically modified canola transform the Canadian agricultural industry. [...] Originally from Kellerberrin, Mr Wright bought a farm in Borden upon returning to WA in 2007. [...] Doug is a strong proponent of GM technology and said not only had the technology increased the Canadian grower’s ability to farm more land but it had also improved the oil standard in products like cooking oils and created industry with oil processing plants.

The Queensland University of Technology has applied to plant more genetically modified bananas in far north Queensland. The university says it’s the next phase of its research into growing more nutritious bananas for developing countries. The plan is the bananas will be developed here, then banana farmers in places like Africa and India will be able to grow the fruit.

THE Baxter family is sure they’ve done nothing wrong but they can’t help feeling the emotional strain. Ongoing publicity surrounding their highly publicised battle with neighbouring organic farmer, Stephen Marsh, has placed undue pressure on the family unit over the past six months. That feeling has also spread throughout the wider Kojonup community with residents holding varying opinions on the issue.

THERE is a place for genetically modified canola in his district says Canowindra farmer, Mick Townsend, who has been growing the controversial crop for the past three years. Mr Townsend said the GM debate needed to come away from glyphosate tolerant canola. ”There are dozens of other traits that can be introduced to some of our current species which give us better moisture usage, disease control and yields, and this can happen as soon as people become better informed about of the benefits of genetic modification,” he said.

PROPERTY rights have emerged as a big player from the neighbour versus neighbour genetic ”contamination” case at Kojonup in Western Australia. That’s the view of Grain Producers Australia chairman, Peter Mailler, who has concerns about the volume of misinformation that he says has hijacked the GM ”contamination” issue in the southern West Australian wheatbelt during the past six months.

Productivity growth in Australian agriculture is a problem. Globally it has slowed, but in Australia it has slowed even more. [...] Probably the best example of this is genetically modified crops. Despite 15 years of event-free cultivation and no scientific grounds for apprehension, regulatory barriers remain high and political, with bureaucratic and media disapproval significant. Moreover, the relatively few companies that continue to invest in the technology are vilified. Monsanto, for example, probably has the worst public image of any major corporation in the developed world.

The world is facing starvation as climate change disrupts food production and the population booms and science’s last hope may be locked inside Syria’s forgotten wild plants. [...] ”We’re looking for the crops that show both heat resistance and high yield,” says Francis Ogbonnaya, a wheat breeder with the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas [...] None of the crops produced by ICARDA are genetically modified, and yet there are contained labs set up on the site and introductory work being carried out, in case the process ever becomes more accepted. The scientists are preparing for good reason – GMO technology could take the 12-year process of creating a new crop strain down to as little as a year or two