1.GM canola is anyone buying it?
2.Call for Moratorium as Farmers Switch Off GM-Canola
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1.GM canola is anyone buying it?
Lisa Roth 
3rd Degree, 30 September 2011 
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/09/30/gm-canola-is-anyone-buying-it/

Grain traders and the WA [Western Australian] government are refusing to divulge how much of the genetically modified canola grown in WA last year has been sold, amid reports that sales have been sluggish. While AWB [an Australian grain corporation] claims the lack of market interest is due to low oil content and the poor finish to the growing season”‰-”‰and not the GM factor”‰-non-GM canola varieties are fetching up to $50 per tonne more than GM canola.

While Hansard reveals that WA Minister for Agriculture Terry Redman told parliament that grain traders advised the Department of Agriculture and Food that a significant proportion of the 49,000 tonnes of GM canola grown last year had sold, exactly how much remains unsold, sitting in silos, has proved difficult to uncover.

AWB's current GM canola market price is $535 per tonne, equating to over $26 million for the whole crop. But because of the low demand and the price gap, Elders-Toepfer Grain and Glencore Grain have decided not to market GM canola for the time being, preferring to concentrate on the more lucrative non-GM canola market in Europe.

"The grain traders have declined to release any additional information because release of the additional information may affect marketing negotiations," Redman said.

Cooperative Bulk Handling's media adviser Claire Armstrong told 3rd Degree: "The main issue is finding a market for GM canola. 95% of WA's non-GM canola went to Europe last year to cater for the European Union's bio-fuel market a market with no tolerance for GM canola."

Armstrong said CBH, WA's main grain handler, prefers to remain impartial to the GM canola debate and can not provide specific storage figures and marketing information about grains.

"Typically we don't give out specific grain quantities; however the canola crop for the 2010-11 harvest was down on previous years," she said. "The overall canola crop for 2010/11 is reported as being at around 706,000 tonnes and GM Canola only made up about 6.5% of the total canola crop."

Europe's bio-fuel market is paying higher price premiums since the recent introduction of the European Union’s Renewal Energy Directive initiative. This has resulted in a significant price spread between GM and non-GM canola. Europe has a very limited supply of non-GM canola and the RED initiative means canola supplied to the bio-fuel industry must be produced in a sustainable way, and their definition of sustainability includes products and by-products being GM-free.

Anti-GM campaigner and Greens MP Lynne McLaren said WA risks losing this high volume of canola exports if it continues down the GM path. She said non-GM canola must be protected from contamination to ensure the stability of this important export market. She warned that if contamination happened WA would suffer the same fate as Canada, which lost its non-GM canola exports to Europe.

McLaren told 3rd Degree the government was forced to admit in June that none of the GM canola grown last year had been sold.

"It is highly unusual for canola stock to be carried over in this way and this was an extremely embarrassing admission for the government. It proves what we have been saying all along”‰-”‰our markets simply don't want GM canola," she said. "It is unacceptable to not reveal how much of the GM canola has been sold and how much it has been sold for. How are farmers supposed to make decisions about what crop to plant next year if they don’t know if there is a decent market for their product or not?"

McLaren says it's unfortunate there is no current way that non-GM canola growers can ensure their exports to the European market aren't contaminated and therefore rejected: "This is why the Greens argued against the lifting of the GM canola moratorium."

McLaren says currently the only way for non-GM farmers to recoup their losses due to GM contamination is to sue their GM growing neighbours”‰-”‰as Kojonup farmer Steve Marsh is currently attempting to do.

"This pits neighbour against neighbour and will destroy the community spirit of our rural communities," she said. "We desperately need farmer protection legislation to protect farmers like Steve Marsh from economic losses caused by GM contamination."

The federal government's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s website states: "Abnormal weather conditions in both the eastern and western states of Australia may have impacted on the final amount of GM canola that was harvested from the 2010 season."

Weather conditions aside, consumer attitudes continue to be a significant factor influencing the market for GM canola. A 2010 report from the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society found world grains markets where GM varieties are available are "dominated by GM grains" though there are "niches for certified non-GM and organically produced grains, for which price premiums are paid".

*This article is the latest in a 10-part 3rd Degree investigative series into the GM industry in Western Australia and the links between the WA government and Monsanto
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2.Call for Moratorium as Farmers Switch Off GE-Canola
GE Free NZ [New Zealand], 3 October 2011
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1110/S00030/call-for-moratorium-as-farmers-switch-off-ge-canola.htm

Farmers are learning a hard lesson in Western Australia and are switching back to GM-free canola after GE canola sales have floundered [1].

The experience of farmers across the Tasman signals the huge opportunity for Brand New Zealandto preserve its GE-Free status. All that is necessary to realise the long-term economic benefit of clean, safe GM-free food production is for government to keep New Zealand production GE-free and restore the moratorium on commercial release.

"Our GE-free status is gaining us a marketing edge where organic and GE-free is in demand, and this must be protected," says Jon Carapiet, spokesman for GE-Free NZ in Food and Environment.

Western Australian Minister for Agriculture Terry has announced that Canola yields and quality suffered severely because of weather conditions and he was advised that "none of this GM canola has been sold at this point..." [2].

The GE canola has become an economic loss-making exercise as buyers pay less per tonne than for its higher quality GE-free counterpart. On top of this, it appears there are no buyers for GE canola seed, as farmers turn their backs on the GE variants and respond to market signals demanding GE-free product. This has prompted the contract Grain Traders to ask farmers to go back to growing GE-free canola for their export markets.

The information comes on the back of GE contamination of Australian organic farms, with cases now reaching the Courts. Farmers have had a taste of how costly it becomes when neighbours' livelihoods are affected by their farming activities.

"Unfortunately it is too late for some farmers to avoid damage from the economic gamble taken by others," says Claire Bleakley, president of GE-Free NZ in Food and Environment. "This is a sharp reminder that co-existence between GE and non-GE cannot work; the former effectively destroys the latter, along with the economic benefits that GE-free status brings."
For consumers and manufacturers using canola, the move back to GE-free production is positive. Earlier in the year Infant Formula manufacturers stated that they were no longer able to ensure a GE-free ingredient supply-line, signalling a threat to the integrity of the food supply. Goodman Fielder which has a GE-Free policy, had also begun to find it harder and harder to obtain GE-Free canola for their breads.

“It is significant for consumers in New Zealand and across the Tasman, that Australian farmers are moving away from GE cropping. Food safety and the wellbeing of loved ones is paramount, and this move assures us that our food choice is protected by allowing companies to source GE-free ingredients,” says Claire Bleakely.

The Australian farmer experience with GE is a warning to our government against any push for the introduction of GE ryegrass and against compromising our GE-free status by trading away food labelling, GE-free production and sovereignty under the TPPA or other trade deals.

It now falls to the WA government to reinstate their moratorium on GE crops, just as New Zealand's government needs to do.