Percy faces the Goliath of GM canola

[Guest guest]

Percy faces the Goliath of GM canola

The new age of genetically modified crops is moving so fast it's hard to keep

up. The ABC's Environment Reporter, Sarah Clarke, discovered that as some

Australian farmers face crunch time, a Canadian farmer named Percy is facing off

against GM's Goliath.

 

Australia's canola farmers have reached the point of no return on genetic

engineering, facing the tough decision of whether to jump on the GM bandwagon or

stick to traditional practices.

 

Chemical giant Monsanto is urging them on, vowing GM crops will produce higher

yields and huge benefits for farmers.

 

Company spokesman Brian Arnst says GM's results " have been outstanding in terms

of better weed control, lower costs to the farmers, better use of the

environment " .

 

Monsanto has spent more than five years trialling GM canola in secret plots

across Australia and now it wants to go into full commercial production.

 

By this time next year, it could have its first commercial canola crop in the

ground in Australia.

 

 

" It all seems to be Monsanto, Monsanto, Monsanto. "

- Arthur Bowman, farmer

While the federal regulator is currently assessing its application, the company

is confident its track record overseas and here in Australia will get it across

the line.

 

" We're confident that when we get to commercialisation in let's say 12 months

time, these systems are available, management systems for farmers to ensure that

coexistence can occur, " Mr Arnst said.

 

 

Farmers beware

 

In the face of Monsanto's hard-sell, Canadian grower Percy Schmeiser is a

nay-sayer and his experiences may have particular resonance for Australian

farmers, many of whom harbour reservations about the world-wide push to switch

to genetically modified canola.

 

Mr Schmeiser says he's been a victim of genetic contamination and is now

travelling the world to advise others to resist the temptation to plant GM

crops.

 

He says there have already been negative implications in Europe, with nervous

consumers abandoning GM products in favour of organic, costing Canada one-third

of its exports.

 

 

Genetically modified canola being grown in " selfing bags " in an Australian

trial. The bags keep bees and other insects out, to isolate the stem in order to

get a pure seed.

" It has destroyed our market of canola in many countries of the world, " Mr

Schmeiser said.

 

" All of the European common market will not buy one bushel of canola from us.

That means 30 per cent of our exports have been lost just to Europe alone. "

 

Mr Schmeiser says he became a GM canola producer by accident when his crop was

contaminated by pollen from a neighbouring genetically modified crop.

 

He says any complaints he may have had were steamrolled by Monsanto, which

successfully sued to seize his crop.

 

" I lost it all to a contamination because a judge ruled in my case it doesn't

matter how Monsanto's genetically modified canola gets on my land or any

farmer's land, " Mr Schmeiser said.

 

" You violate the pattern and you infringe on the pattern and your seed becomes

Monsanto's property. "

 

 

Powerless

 

Mr Schmeiser is in Australia to warn farmers that they too could become victims

of genetic contamination.

 

He says they will be powerless to stop GM pollen being spread in a number of

ways, whether it be by wind, by bees or even off the back of a truck.

 

That could spell disaster for those farmers who are not yet ready to embrace GM

technology.

 

 

" Think very seriously about allowing GMOs into Australia. There is no turning

back. "

- Percy Schmeiser, Canadian grower

" Once you release it into the environment through cross pollination and direct

seed movement, as in my case, it will contaminate organic farmers and

conventional farmers because the GMO gene is a dominant gene and will take over

the plant that it gets into, " Mr Schmeiser said.

 

" So there's no such thing and repeating, there's no such thing as coexistence. "

 

That's an argument Mr Arnst from Monsanto rejects: " We are firmly of the belief

that coexistence can occur.

 

" I think that as we go forward, everyone will realise that in fact in a

situation like Australia, where our agricultural systems are somewhat different

than those in Europe, for example, and the UK, that in fact growing biotech

crops in coexistence with organic farming will be successful. "

 

Monsanto has pinned its argument on a new study published in the prestigious

American Science Journal.

 

In it, Professor Rick Roush from the Cooperative Research Centre for Weed

Management found that while the pollen drift from GM canola can travel up to

three kilometres, contamination levels were considered insignificant.

 

" People don't have to be as concerned as they might have been about the extent

of pollen flow between the fields, " Professor Roush said.

 

" The organic industry will have concerns and I think it's a matter of trying for

- there'll have to be some effort for people to work with one another and figure

out where the GM fields are going and where the organic farms are going and see

if some accommodation can be met. "

 

 

Consensus

 

Mr Arnst added: " The whole industry has to embrace this technology if it's going

to be successful and go forward, from food, health and safety, through to the

environmental and the growing of the crops, right through to the trade. "

 

It's not yet clear if Monsanto will get that sort of consensus of support.

 

Arthur Bowman has been growing canola in New South Wales' central west for 18

years and is one of those farmers who's not sure GM is the way forward.

 

" We only have one chance, " Mr Bowman said. " It's irreversible. Once we go GM

canola, there is no way we can go back to a free state. "

 

Mr Bowman believes there should be more time for debate.

 

 

GM trial site: Cages containing one male and one female genetically modified

canola plant and bees.

" It all seems to be Monsanto, Monsanto, Monsanto, " he said.

 

" We're in the fortunate position we're an island and can afford to keep out of

this technology in the meantime.

 

" In that time, we can prove all these plus and minuses to the farmers. "

 

Mr Schmeiser is certainly doing his best to point out what he sees as the

minuses.

 

" I have five children and 14 grandchildren, " he said. " Do I want to leave them a

legacy of land and food with poisons? No. I want to leave them a legacy of land

and food without poisons.

 

" Think very seriously about allowing GMOs into Australia. There is no turning

back. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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