GM farmer warns no case for canola -- yet

NSW farmer Bruce Finney cultivates more than 7000 hectares of GM crops, including soy beans and maize, and fully supports the use of GM cotton. Ask him about GM canola, and he tells a different story.

"Frankly, GM canola doesn't stack up well when you look at the cost benefits, and analyse the risks to the grower," he says. "The federal government does a fantastic job and the OGTR are also doing a very good job. But the industry itself is just not doing well when it comes to highlighting the risks to the industry, to the farmers," he says.

Finney, central region manager for the Twynam Agricultural Group, claims there is no clear cost benefit for canola growers to switch from either traditional or triazine-tolerant (TT) canola to GM varieties.

Speaking at a forum hosted by the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology last week, Finney claimed that at best, "coexistence is likely to result in a win/lose outcome and, at worse, it could be a lose/lose situation" if both GM and traditional canola were both grown in the same market.

The Twynam group operates 17 properties in NSW and has a sister company in Argentina where GM corn, soybeans and cotton have been grown commercially for several years, delivering higher profits and several crop and weed management benefits.

"But based on our current knowledge and experience, the cost/benefits of GM canola do not outweigh the commercial risks," he said.

Finney said the need to segregate crops (he suggested most farmers would maintain both types of crop) and to operate two separate supply and marketing chains, plus QA demands and the higher cost of GM seed would all mean increased costs either directly to the grower or via the grains boards.

"And those extra costs will end up back in one place: with the farmer. Too many people are not being informed properly, the industry is not getting the information out. We need to go back to the drawing board on this one," he asserted.

"It's a shame, because we see biotech as a valuable tool for the agricultural industry. But until the grains industry comes up with the evidence to say one way or the other we are just not in a position to know which to do."

The problem with the present information and disinformation war is, as Finney so aptly put it, that you can't go back after the decision has been taken and untake it.

"The issue can be worked through in time, but we need a lot more information, accurate information, to let the farmers know who are going to be the winners and losers over GM," he said.