Category: Sustainable Settlement and Agriculture

African farm summit calls for action

admin /1 September, 2007

OSLO – NORWAY

Africa’s drive to feed itself by boosting agricultural production through funding, market access and improved technology must be balanced against the risk of environmental damage and market collapse, delegates at an Oslo conference said Thursday.

About 250 experts, donors and officials gathered for the Second Green Africa Revolution Conference to follow up on a 2004 challenge from former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to revolutionize African farming.

"You really need to rethink the size of the problem and the urgency," Akinwumi A. Adesina, of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, told delegates. "The poor don’t eat (planning) processes. The poor eat food. We can’t plan forever. … We have to act now."

Even though agriculture is at the core of African culture, production, measured per capita, has declined about 5 percent in the past 20 years, compared to a 40 percent increase in some developing countries, according to the conference’s background report.

Keep our fields and food GE-free

admin /20 August, 2007

About the Moratorium on GE crops The moratorium on growing Genetically Engineered crops in NSW is set to expire in March 2008. If the moratorium is lifted it will have dire consequences for our clean, green, GE free image and have detrimental effects on export markets. The introduction of GE food crops would also threaten Continue Reading →

Farmer on international crusade against GM crops

admin /14 August, 2007

Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2002/s599018.htm Broadcast: 04/07/2002 Farmer on international crusade against GM crops Reporter: Sarah Clarke KERRY O’BRIEN: The new age of genetically modified crops is moving so fast it’s hard to keep up. But for some Australian farmers crunch point has arrived. Canola farmers have to make a choice between Continue Reading →

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD CROPS

admin /14 August, 2007

 

The Hon. RICHARD JONE, Independent [18/09/2002, 6.31 p.m.]: Tonight I again express concern about genetic engineering [GE] as it relates to food crops. Whilst it has been accepted by the community that genetic engineering has had an impact on cotton crops, it has not been accepted that it has had the same impact on food crops. I received a briefing paper from the Soil Association in the United Kingdom, which today released a study on the effects of GE on food crops. That briefing paper states:

The evidence we have gathered demonstrates that GM crops are far from a success story. In complete contrast to the impression given by the biotechnology industry, it is clear that they have not realised most of the claimed benefits and have been a practical and economic disaster. Widespread GM contamination has severely disrupted GM-free production including organic farming, destroyed trade and undermined the competitiveness of North American agriculture overall. GM crops have also increased the reliance of farmers on herbicides and led to many legal problems…

The profitability of growing GM herbicide tolerant soya and insect resistant Bt maize is less than non-GM crops due to the extra cost of GM seed and because lower market prices are paid for GM crops.

• The claims of increased yields have not been realised overall except for a small increase in Bt maize yields. Moreover the main GM variety (Roundup Ready soya) yields 6-11 per cent less than non-GM varieties.

• GM herbicide tolerant crops have made farmers more reliant on herbicides and new weed problems have emerged. Farmers are applying herbicides several times; contrary to the claim that only one application would be needed. Rogue GM oilseed rape plants (‘volunteers’) have become a widespread problem in Canada.

• Farmers have suffered a severe reduction in choice about how they farm as a result of the introduction of GM crops. Some are finding themselves locked into growing GM crops…

• Widespread contamination has occurred rapidly and caused major disruption at all levels of the agricultural industry, for seed resources, crop production, food processing and bulk commodity trading. It has undermined the viability of the whole North American farming industry. As I said earlier, I received this briefing paper from the Soil Association in the United Kingdom, a well-respected organisation. The briefing paper continues:

• Contamination has caused the loss of nearly the whole organic oilseed rape sector in the province of Saskatchewan, at a potential cost of millions of dollars. Organic farmers are struggling practically and economically; many have been unable to sell their produce as organic due to contamination.

• All non-GM farmers are finding it very hard or impossible to grow GM-free crops. Seeds have become almost completely contaminated with GMOs, good non-GM varieties have become hard to buy, and there is a high risk of crop contamination.

• Because of the lack of segregation the whole food processing and distribution system has become vulnerable to costly and disruptive contamination incidents. In September 2000, just one per cent of approved GM maize contaminated almost half the national maize supply and cost the company, Aventis, up to $1 billion-

• GM crops have been an economic disaster. As well as the lower farm profitability, GM crops have been a market failure internationally. Because of the lack of segregation, they have caused the collapse of entire exports to Europe and a loss of trade with Asia-

• Within a few years of the introduction of GM crops, almost the entire $300 million annual US maize exports to the EU and the $300 million annual Canadian rape exports to the EU had disappeared, and the US share of the world’s soya market had decreased.

• US farm subsidies were meant to have fallen over the last few years. Instead they rose dramatically, paralleling the growth in the area of GM crops. The lost export trade as a result of GM crops is thought to have caused a fall in farm prices and hence a need for increased government subsidies, estimated at an extra $3-$5 billion annually.

• In total GM crops may have cost the US economy at least $12 billion net from 1999 to 2001…

• One of the most unpleasant outcomes of the introduction of GM crops has been the accusations of farmers infringing company patent rights. A non-GM farmer whose crop was contaminated by GMOs was sued by Monsanto for $400,000.

• While biotechnology companies are suing farmers, farmers themselves are turning to the courts for compensation from the companies for lost income and markets as a result of contamination. In Canada, a class action has been launched on behalf of the whole organic sector in Saskatchewan for the loss of the organic rape market…

• Many US farm organisations have been urging farmers to plant non-GM crops this year.

• The US and Canadian National Farmers Unions, American Corn Growers Association, Canadian Wheat Board, organic farming groups and more than 200 other groups are lobbying for a ban or moratorium on the introduction of the next major proposed GM food crop, GM wheat.

I met with the Minister today. I thank him for the time that he spent with me. However, he seems to be unaware of the international ramifications of not introducing legislation in this State that will allow him to declare the whole of New South Wales, or parts of New South Wales, GM free. I ask the Minister again to look at the possibility of introducing legislation that will give him those powers. He must wake up to the problems being caused by genetically engineered food.

Source: Parliament of New South Wales: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/hansArt.nsf/V3Key/LC20020918029  

GM Food: The People versus Victoria

admin /14 August, 2007

GM Food: The People versus Victoria By: Katherine Wilson Wednesday 13 June 2007 NewMatilda.com When Sydney Greenpeace staffers John Hepburn and Louise Sales took the train to Melbourne to meet a small group of campaigners last weekend, things were looking shaky. The group had learned that the Victorian Government intended to overturn bans on genetically manipulated (GM) food Continue Reading →

Farmers invoice government for 10.5 billion dollars

admin /12 August, 2007

Sophie Black from Crikey writes:

On the 3rd of May, a group representing around 100 farmers from NSW and Queensland going by the august title The Commonwealth Property Protection Association, released a strident two-page advertisement in The Land newspaper which included an invoice for 10.5 billion dollars.