GMOs and You
Benefits for All
Australia is a globally competitive, innovative provider of safe and nutritious food, and high-quality feed and fibre. Both GM technology and organic agriculture are a part of this. The ruling in this case is important as it preserves the status quo, which, until this current dispute, had been working well in Australia.
The case ruling reaffirms that for all intents and purposes, GM and non-GM canola should be able to be grown side-by-side successfully and productively without creating marketing issues. This conclusion has not just been made in an Australian court, but has been accepted as fact in other countries and other organic organisations outside of Australia.
The ruling should come as no surprise. With five years of growing GM canola in Australia, there has not been one incident across over three million tonnes of canola delivered domestically, or over 10 million tonnes delivered internationally, where an end user (seed crusher/oil or meal buyer, or food/feed manufacturer) has not received what they had ordered in terms of the GM status.
This demonstrates that the Australian seed and grain industry has the capacity to deliver, and is delivering, market choice. Commodity segregation is managed in different forms across the entire agriculture sector. All farming systems need to continue working in harmony to ensure that no farmer is exposed to unnecessary economic risk because of unreasonable commodity standards.
What is critical from this case is that farmers will be free to choose GM varieties that can meet the demanding weed and pest challenges without having to take unusual and unfair practices at the behest of unregulated third parties, whether they are in the field next door or in a neighbouring town. As a result Australian consumers will continue to get great value and choice from nutritious and natural Australian produce available at their shops. The sustainability of diversity of our production systems, which may include the use of GM crops, ensures this for the long-term.