The State Government has announced the composition of an independent panel to review the NSW moratorium on commercial planting of genetically modified (GM) food crops.

The review will be chaired by former Nationals Minister for Agriculture, Ian Armstrong, and supported by agricultural scientist and lawyer Kathryn Adams and Professor Timothy Reeves.

The review will be comprehensive, exploring issues directly associated with trade and market access resulting from the potential production of commercially grown GM food crops in NSW.

The NSW Gene Technology Act 2003 (GM Crop Moratorium) expires in March 2008.

The State Government is keen to canvass all the possible options and stakeholder opinions before making a decision on the future of GM crops after March next year.

This review is about exploring the impacts on marketing and trade of either extending or modifying legislation, or allowing it to expire.

From the outset it is important to understand that State Government is responsible for legislation identifying and managing the risks of these two areas - trade and market access. The Commonwealth regulates the use of GM in Australia as it relates to human health and safety and the environment.

There needs to be a clear delineation of these responsibilities before the review gets underway.

The review will assess the expected impacts on marketing, trade and investment for NSW of:

• Extending the Gene Technology Act 2003 and maintaining the status quo;
• Amending the Act and removing the moratorium orders; and
• Allowing the Act to expire.

Drought figures falling

News that less than 70 per cent of the State is now drought declared continues a favourable trend in improving conditions across the State.

The July drought figures were the best in more than a year and reflect a change in fortune for the State’s farmers.

The last time we saw drought figures as low as this was May last year.

This is good news, but there is still a long way to go until we can say the drought is over.

The area classified marginal is 10.8 per cent and the satisfactory area is 19.6pc.

It is clear there are still some parts of NSW feeling the brunt of the drought and in dire need of above average rainfall to reverse spiralling conditions.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) recently increased its crop estimates to 5.08 million hectares for the 2007 winter crop. This is the biggest sown area in NSW since 1983 when farmers realised a bumper crop after the horrific 1981-82 drought.

This year more than three million hectares of wheat will be sown along the wheat belt. This is almost double the area of wheat that was harvested last year.

More rain is needed across the whole State to secure the future of the winter crop and replenish on-farm and off-farm water supplies. We need to see the rain in recent weeks become more widespread and consistent.