TFGA says government is sending mixed messages with GMO decision

Tasmania’s peak farming body, the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, says the government’s statement today on the state’s GMO moratorium is at best confusing and at worst potentially disastrous for future investment and jobs growth in the state.

TFGA chief executive, Jan Davis, said Primary Industries Minister Bryan Green has effectively shut the door on access to technological advances underpinning agricultural expansion in Tasmania with his upgrading of the GMO moratorium to an outright, indefinite ban. This undermines the potential of the huge investment in irrigation to secure the future growth of farming in the state.

Of particular concern to the farmers, the TFGA says, is the disincentive to invest in dairy expansion if they are not to have access to the latest pasture crops.

“Mr Green is condemning them to uncompetitiveness,” Ms Davis said. “That is the crime in what he has announced. We know of farmers who want to invest millions in the dairy industry. They will shelve those plans.”

The TFGA had argued for a moratorium extension not exceeding three years, and preferably two years, in concert with a continuing assessment of changes in gene technologies, available GMO product and shifts in consumer and market trends.

“Plus, there had to be significant government investment in a campaign strategy to promote our GMO-free status,” Ms Davis said.

“There is skepticism about the actual benefits delivered to farmers by the concept, particularly about the perceived market advantage and price premiums in remaining GMO-free.

“There is no right answer to this. Since its inception in 2001, the moratorium has presented this sector with major challenges, as well as some opportunities. Accordingly, there are farmers who regard it as a marketing advantage; while others see it as a constraint on crop diversity, productivity and, hence, profitability.”

Ms Davis said the TFGA’s position remained that it supported technological initiatives that created new opportunities to expand the agricultural sector, improve profitability and competitiveness in the context of contemporary market dynamics and trends.
TFGA chief executive Jan Davis