Monsanto puts SA under GM pressure

Cunderdin grower John Snooke talks to Agriculture Minister Terry Redman after the State Government removed its ban on GM canola production. Monsanto is now pressuring South Australia to do the same.

Biotechnology company Monsanto is urging South Australian grain growers to think about whether they want to be one of only two States to ban genetically modified (GM) canola.

Monsanto has already started ramping up the pressure on the SA Government after a decision by Agriculture Minister Terry Redman to overturn WA's ban on GM canola.

As a result, SA is now the only mainland canola-producing State where growing GM canola is illegal. Tasmania also has a ban on GM crops.

Monsanto Australia chief Peter O'Keeffe said the decision to drop the ban in WA was a great step forward for the State's farmers.

Asked what his message would be to SA in the midst of a State election year, he said: "The message to the South Australian growers is that they need to make the decision to push hard for Roundup Ready canola and again, like the WA farmers, to ensure that they remain competitive."

But an anti-GM scientist said the SA Government should stand firm.

"For South Australia, of course, it is very difficult," former CSIRO scientist and spokesman for Biological Farmers of Australia,

Maarten Stapper, said in reference to growers being able to keep seed free of GM contamination.

"But I would say just keep holding on, but in terms of quarantine, in terms of keeping GM out of the State, it becomes very difficult with the whole trade of seeds etc."

SA's State election, to be held on March 20, would place more pressure on the Rann Government to overturn the ban, he said.

"The WA Government has to monitor the impact of the contamination, and after the first year or second year, you can always go back quicker.

"But if you don't monitor, then it's a given that GM is in there."

Dr Stapper said that long-term, claims that GM crops increased yields were wrong.

"A report of the first decade of crops in the US reports that the yields ... of all the GM crops in the US is not higher than it would have been without GM," he said.

Another claim that GM crops were completely pest resistant year-on-year was also wrong.

"If you spray 12 times at the same spot with Roundup you get resistance," he said.

"Even if you follow the actual regulations on how to spray and how to mix and all that stuff, you get resistance."

Dr Stapper said this placed extra power in the hands of GM companies which farmers were then forced to rely on, otherwise they would go broke.

Mr O'Keeffe said WA farmers now had a very useful tool to ensure they remained competitive on the global stage.

"There's no doubt that there will be big impacts involved in growing the technology next year," he said.

"There'll be a bigger grain crop as a result and that has to have flow-on effects for the wider grains industry and also the State economy."

Mr O'Keeffe will address farmers and the Victorian public on February 18 to discuss the State's progress since GM canola was introduced two seasons ago.

He dismissed views from anti-GM groups that Roundup Ready canola became weed-resistant and did not produce the high yields that were pledged.

"There's global data that will quite clearly say that the bio-tech systems leave growers and the environment way ahead of other farming systems on offer," he said.

"But now we've got the Australian data and we think that we're going to have bigger yield benefits than have been encountered overseas."

Mr Redman said GM canola yields were comparable with non-GM varieties.

He said growers reported that GM allowed better weed control, adding that the technology would not suit every farming operation, but his decision to lift the ban was based on giving growers choice.

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