A COLAC district farmer has stopped growing genetically modified canola because of problems marketing, harvesting and storing the crop.
But Beeac’s Richard Barclay said he could grow the crop again.
Mr Barclay said he believed the community was yet to fully accept GM canola.
“It’s going to take a while to really take off, a lot of people have strong views about it,” Mr Barclay said.
“It’s actually a belief of a percentage of people in the community that it’s bad for you,” he said.
“That’s fine, people are entitled to their own opinions.”
Mr Barclay said he hadn’t ruled out growing GM canola again.
“Right at the moment I’m leaning towards actual conventional canola because of the perception in the marketplace that GM canola is not accepted by everyone,” he said.
Mr Barclay said there were also logistical issues with harvesting and storing of GM canola.
“It’s not that I’ve got difficulty finding storage,” Mr Barclay said.
“You’ve got to take it where they’ll take it,” he said.
“If that’s close it’s good, but if it’s further away it’s a problem.”
Mr Barclay said there were “pros and cons” with GM canola.
“In my experience it yields better,” he said.
“You can spray Roundup over the top of it and it kills everything else except the canola.
“You can’t do that with normal canola.”
Victorian Farmers Federation grains president Andrew Weidemann said buyers were still interested in GM canola.
“There’s a buyer for it every day of the week,” Mr Weidemann said.
“Storage locations can be a problem, because storage is where the bulk of the crop is,” he said.
Mr Weidemann said growers in Victoria were planting GM canola this year.
“Clearly now growers are ‘yes they’re using it’, ‘no they’re not’, there’s no grey area,” he said.
“We’ve really seen a much bigger uptake.”
The Victorian Government placed a four-year moratorium on the commercial scale planting of GM canola in 2004.
The government lifted the moratorium in 2008.
The economics of genetically manipulated (GM) canola do not add up. Other varieties are more productive and profitable. Grain traders have been paying up to $50/tonne discount for GM, in response to strong local and overseas demand for GM-free grain. For instance, Viterra’s quote for April 19 was $30/tonne less for GM canola at its Victorian silos. In response to farmer reluctance to buy GM seed, Monsanto guarantees NSW growers a maximum of $10/tonne less for GM than non-GM, provided they forward sell and deliver to Cargill in Newcastle. A Birchip Cropping Group report has also found that GM canola seed yields no more than top alternative varieties and has similar oil content. Birchip’s gross margin analysis {reported in the Australian Farm Journal April 2012, Pp 20 & 21} also found that due to the GM harvest discount, GM seed royalties, brand-name chemicals required to be used, and extra transport costs to distant silos, GM canola is over $150 per hectare less profitable than other canola options. Richard Barclay made the right decision, to say ‘no’ to GM and many other farmers agree. GM canola also poses a GM contamination threat that no-one can afford. Why grow what no-one wants to eat and is a profit gouger? Let’s ban it again.