The world’s first populations of glyphosate resistant wild radish will be announced at Perth’s Agribusiness Crop Updates, but researchers stress further cases can be minimised if farmers adopt diverse control strategies.

Transcripts of the West Australian court case of an organic farmer suing his neighbour for allegedly contaminating his farm with genetically modified canola will be made available online.

Two neighbouring farmers, a field of canola and a gust of wind are at the centre of a landmark court case in Australia that could have consequences for the controversial growing of genetically modified crops in the country.

In a landmark case, an organic farmer in Western Australia state is suing his neighbor for allegedly contaminating his crop with a genetically modified organism (GMO), GM canola. This is the first claim anywhere in the world by a “non-GMO farmer against a GMO farmer,” says Joe Lederman of the specialist law firm FoodLegal in Melbourne.

Steve Marsh is a farmer who lost his organic certification when genetically modified (GM) canola blew onto his farm from a neighbouring property in 2010. Steve lost most of his income and has struggled for the past three years trying to make ends meet while working to decontaminate his land and get his organic certification back. In this case the contamination comes from canola patented by Monsanto but the biotech company avoids legal implications by including a no liability clause with each sale of their GM-seeds. If Steve wins it will set a precedent – making GM farmers in Australia responsible for any cases of GM contamination. The judgement will also guide the application of common law to GM contamination events and will be of interest to lawmakers worldwide.

This landmark case is set to begin on the 10th of February in the Western Australian Supreme Court and as we get closer to the date the urgency for support is stronger than ever. We are seeking support from all around the world as this issue affects everyone of us and our choice of what we eat. Steve’s opponent is well supported and well funded by a pro-GM organisation and we need to make sure Steve has the best case possible to win this for all of us.

In a victory for the GMO Free movement in Australia the Tasmanian Government announced Thursday that it has extended the state’s ban on genetically modified crops and animals indefinitely.

Farmers in three Australian States are seeking public support for a Senate inquiry into the post-commercialisation impacts of existing regulated GM crops – as a Western Australian (WA) farmer who lost much of livelihood due to GM contamination seeks to crowd-source legal costs for his landmark trial.

Concerns over genetically-modified crops are again hitting the headlines as Independent senator Nick Xenophon calls for a Senate Inquiry into GM crop farming and what it can costs their non-GM farming neighbours.

South Australia will extend a moratorium on genetically modified crops until at least 2019. SA is the only mainland state maintaining a ban on GM crop production and trials.

The Department of Environment and Primary Industries plans a trial of 40 genetically modified wheat lines at its Horsham field site. DEPI has applied to the Office of Gene Technology Regulator to run the trial from November to December 2015. An OGTR spokeswoman said there had been 14 previous licence applications for GM wheat trials, of which 11 were still current.