Communique from the NSW Agricultural Advisory Council on Gene Technology - November 2003

The New South Wales Agricultural Advisory Council on Gene Technology met for the third time on 6–7 November 2003 at Wagga Wagga.

The Council toured current GM canola trial sites of both Bayer CropScience and Monsanto to see, first hand, trial management and a comparison of agronomic practices under GM and non-GM canola cropping systems.

Of particular importance, Council toured Bayer CropScience’s Invigor® trial site near Ganmain to determine the extent of reported non-compliance with the conditions of an Exemption Order for this site, and to assess the risk that non-compliance may have posed to market access and trade. The Council concluded, by majority decision, that the non-compliance would have posed a negligible increase in risk to market access or trade. Council also agreed that Bayer CropScience displayed poor management of the trial and the exercise of judgment in addressing the issues. The Council has recommended to the NSW Minister for Agriculture that the trial continue under a new Exemption Order conditional upon a range of strict conditions being enforced.

The Council’s Communication Code was also discussed, and the requirement for it to be complied with was confirmed.

The Council received submissions from Bayer CropScience, Monsanto and the Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF) seeking in-principle support for trials of genetically modified (GM) canola in NSW in 2004. The proposed trials would include:

• a supply chain coexistence demonstration trial
• research and development trials
• technology demonstration trials
• seed multiplication trials.

The applicants made presentations to the Council on each of the submissions, and were questioned thoroughly on numerous aspects of their applications.

Council entered into considerable discussion regarding in-principle support for trials of GM canola in NSW in 2004, which resulted in the identification of a number of issues the applicants would be required to address. Council did not finalise these issues at the meeting, seeking further consultation and consideration before communicating its recommendations to the Minister.