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NEWS RELEASE
[Western Gazette article on this story with NFU response - click here]
Dorset Farmers advised to watch Brazil as GM Crops Decision sits in Balance
New Monsanto GM Tactic may pass Economic Opportunity to UK Farmers
Date:
13 October 1999
International GM crop conference
Mark Griffiths, Environment spokesman and 1997 West Dorset General Election candidate for the Natural Law Party, has returned this week from speaking at an international agricultural conference in Brazil on GM crops.
Coinciding with the holding of the conference it has emerged that biotech giant Monsanto has just launched its latest controversial GM crop initiative in an attempt to push Brazil into accepting transgenic crops.
Soya farming in Dorset
If eventually allowed the approval of GM crops in Brazil could threaten its current role as a major international source of GM-Free soya and by default open up new economic opportunities for farmers in Dorset. This possibility arises particularly because of the arrival of a new variety of non-GM soya from Byelorussia recently introduced into the UK. This variety is already proving profitable in the types of soil and climatic conditions found in Dorset and other parts of northern Europe.
New controversial move by Monsanto
Including a large number of agronomists, many delegates at the Brazilian GM crop conference expressed considerable doubt about the health and environmental consequences of growing GM crops. There was also concern that they could pose a threat to the international food-trade reputation of Brazil if eventually approved for commercial cultivation in the country. Currently growing such crops is illegal in Brazil.
Delegates were therefore particularly alarmed to discover during the course of the conference that Monsanto has started a publicity campaign for its herbicide resistant GM soya beans using full-page colour advertising in the Brazilian agricultural press.
Greenpeace Brazil is now considering possible legal action against Monsanto for advertising a product which cannot be legally traded in the country.
Brazil is currently entering its spring planting season and it is feared that Monsanto's premature advertising campaign could encourage Brazilian farmers to illegally import GM soya seeds from neighbouring Argentina where they are already authorised.
Critical Brazilian situation may be economic opportunity for Dorset Farmers
As well as drawing attention to known agronomic performance problems with GM crops Mr Griffiths warned conference delegates that unless Brazil safeguards its GM-Free status as a matter of urgency it would run the risk of transferring economic competitive advantage to farmers in Europe, who if necessary are now in a position to grow their own soya to serve widespread domestic demand for GM-Free products. Existing surpluses for other crops in Europe mean there is plenty of latent capacity to switch EU land into soya.
Following his return to the UK Mr Griffiths is advising farmers in Dorset to monitor the situation in Brazil carefully:
"A number of large UK food processors and retailers have previously been sourcing their GM-Free soya in Brazil because of the GM cropping situation in the United States. If Brazil loses its GM-Free status the local food chain will be keen to see the domestic soya acreage increase in order to guarantee a quality-assured supply for the increasingly dominant GM-Free market within the EU."
Soya grown in suitable conditions in the UK has already been forecast to become the most profitable non-cereal "break crop" for British farmers next harvest as a result of the high market demand for its guaranteed GM-Free status.
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Notes for editors:
The conference on GM crops in Brazil was held 9-11 October, as part of the Parana State International Agricultural Fair at Parque Castello Branco, Pinhais, Curitiba.
The conference was organised by the Parana Regional Council of Architects and Agronomists (CREA-PR) and was opened by the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture. Additional sponsors included the Parana Association of Agronomists (AEA-PR) and the State Government of Parana.
The neigbouring Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, which is an economic leader in agricultural production and where soya is one of the principal crops, has spearheaded the opposition in Brazil against GMOs. Independently of the Federal Government the state banned the use of GM crops within its territory in March. The state legislature is currently considering a bill that would declare Rio Grande do Sul a permanent "GM free zone."Other international speakers at the conference included leading GM crop critics Dr Michael Hansen of the Consumer Policy Institute, USA, and Dr Jean-Pierre Berlan of the National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), France.
Conference photographs are available at www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/brasilgmconfphotos.htm
Until very recently soya had not been grown in the UK since the second world war. For more information on the new soya variety suitable for growing in UK conditions visit http://www.northern-soya.com/index.html .
The Natural Law Party is active in over 80 countries around the world including all 15 EU member states and is seeking a global ban on GM foods.
More information on the dangers of genetically modified food and the Natural Law Party's campaign to ban genetically modified foods in Wessex is available at www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex .
Mark Griffiths BSc FRICS FAAV can be contacted on 01962 852122 or at nlpwessex@bigfoot.com .
[Western Gazette article on this story with NFU response - click here]
Return
to NLP Wessex GM page
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benefits to farmers? - some realities behind
biotechnology myths
GM crops a threat to future
viability of farming in Hampshire
Dorset farmers react in support of
NLP GM warnings
Dorset Farmers advised to avoid
GM Oilseed Rape
Natural Law Party campaign to ban genetically modified foods in Wessex
