SA farmers to petition right to grow GM crops
South Australian grain growers will petition the State Government for the right to grow genetically-modified crops to put an extra $140 million a year in farmers’ pockets.
Grain Producer SA chief executive Darren Arney told InDaily today the state’s 2500 farmers would be asked to sign a petition to be delivered to the Minister for Agriculture, Leon Bignell, to lift a moratorium on GM crops.
SA’s moratorium on GM crop production is slated to remain in place until at least September 2019.
“What we’re asking is for South Australian farmers to have the same rights as Victorian, New South Wales, Queensland and West Australian farmers,” Arney said.
“Our members are becoming increasingly frustrated that they do not have the same freedom of choice … [as] their interstate counterparts have.
“We’re yet to see any benefits of the GM moratorium.”
The petition will be launched today at the start of the Yorke Peninsula Field Days and remain open online for a month.
“It [GM crops] has been moving up the farmers’ list of priorities so this will be the first time we’ve petitioned,” Arney said.
He said that in March this year, the State Government conceded that GM crops could deliver a 7 per cent yield increase for SA growers.
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At the time, Arney said “an overnight increase” from approximately 1 per cent just through the government changing its policy on GM crops was “exactly what growers need”.
“A 7 per cent yield increase for a South Australian crop worth $2 billion crop is an extra $140 million in the pockets of growers,” Arney said.
“The immediate flow-on benefits of this to rural and regional communities would be huge, not to mention the agronomic benefits that GM crops will bring, such as reduced use of weed control herbicides and ability to rotate chemicals and avoid resistance.”
Bringing in four million tonne a year, wheat accounts for about 50 per cent of SA’s crop production, followed by barley and canola.
– with AAP
