Western Australian Agriculture Minister Kim Chance has attacked a Melbourne University Professor’s claims that Australian farmers are missing out because of state moratoriums on genetically modified (GM) crops. Professor Rick Roush has co-authored a report which suggests there has been a 30 per cent boost in yields from GM crops in Canada in the past decade, but Australian yields have declined. But Mr Chance says the claims are unscientific and wrong and there is no firm evidence of potential yield increases from using GM crops in Australia.

Labor wants to take an honest-broker approach to genetically modified (GM) crops, prompting government accusations of cowardice. Queensland is the only state in Australia where GM crops are permitted although other states are likely to revisit the issue when moratoriums currently in place expire next year. Labor’s agriculture spokesman Kerry O’Brien said any decision should be based purely on science. ”I don’t believe that this issue needs the federal government to act as an activist on the issue,” Senator O’Brien told ABC TV.

The grains industry could produce an additional $157 million worth of canola and wheat each year if genetically modified (GM) canola is commercialised in Australia. A report released today by The University of Melbourne shows that if GM canola is adopted on over half the current canola area there will be substantial economic and environmental benefits. In the report, Dr Robert Norton and Professor Rick Roush from the Faculty of Land and Food Resources provide a summary of more than 20 recent reports on the impact of GM canola in Australia.

Labor wants to take an honest-broker approach to genetically modified (GM) crops, prompting government accusations of cowardice. Queensland is the only state in Australia where GM crops are permitted although other states are likely to revisit the issue when moratoriums currently in place expire next year. Labor’s agriculture spokesman Kerry O’Brien said any decision should be based purely on science. ”I don’t believe that this issue needs the federal government to act as an activist on the issue,” Senator O’Brien told ABC TV.

The National Technology and Society Monitor also found many of us still aren’t comfortable with genetically modified plants and animals for food, despite a government report to the contrary. [...] ”In this country, governments are in fact moving towards a more permissive position on genetically modified plants, and earlier this year, a government report suggested landmark shifts in attitudes,” said Gilding. ”But in the Monitor, there wasn’t any change in reaction to genetically modified plants and overall most people remain uncomfortable with GM agriculture. There’s certainly no evidence for a major sea change on that score.”

Farm groups’ hopes of a swift ending to the WA ban on genetically modified crops have been dashed after Agriculture Minister Kim Chance confirmed the moratorium would remain for the term of government and further warned the policy would not change until there was a significant swing in consumer attitudes towards GM food. Calls for softening of the policy to allow GM cotton to be grown in the Ord region under a special exemption were also dealt a blow after Mr Chance was handed a petition yesterday with 10,000 signatures from a Japanese delegation calling for the moratorium to remain on GM crops.

The Western Australian government says it will consider an exemption to its genetically modified crop ban, to allow GM cotton to be grown in the Ord Valley. The move comes after positive public feedback to a discussion paper on the crop. Agriculture Minister, Kim Chance, says the government is still to receive a response from the traditional owners of the Kimberley region, but so far support has been positive.

The Federal Government’s economic research agency has told a conference that genetically-modified (GM) crops need to be part of Australia’s solution to drought and climate change problems. [...] They’ve proved to be a major impediment to technology development in Australia and its application and there’s no evidence whatsoever that it’s increased marketability or anything related to our crops,” he said. ”So its impact has been, as far as I can see, entirely negative.”

A leading Australia-based dairy processor has become the latest company to incur the wrath of Greenpeace over allegations that it is using genetically modified (GM) feed in its supply chain. The environmental organisation today accused the Murray Goulburn company, manufacturer of the Devondale brand of products, of supplying its dairy herds with feed that contains up to five per cent GM materials.

Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance today met a Japanese delegation to hear first-hand about the millions of Japanese consumers who want to continue eating non-GM products from Western Australia. The Consumers Union of Japan presented Mr Chance with a petition signed by more than 150 companies, representing almost three million Japanese consumers, urging the State Government to continue its moratorium on the commercial production of Genetically Modified (GM) crops.