Australia could boost crop yields by up to 10 percent by producing commercial genetically modified canola, wheat, rice and maize, the government's Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) said on Monday.
In its first report spelling out the economic impact of genetically modified (GMO) crops in Australia, ABARE estimated that modification would boost canola yields by 10 percent, although some local field trials had produced yield gains of up to 38 percent. The country will grow its first such commercial GMO canola crop this year and the focus will increasingly shift to modified strains.
But Australia's farmers have been reluctant to move quickly into GMO due to fear of loss of markets, and only 10,000 hectares in a total planted area of 1.27 million ha would be devoted to the modified oilseed, industry body the Australian Oilseeds Federation said.
Canada, the world's top canola exporter, produces mainly GMO canola. Australia, which has so far produced only conventional oilseed, is the second-biggest canola exporter.
ABARE also estimates that Australia could reap productivity gains of 9 percent from producing GMO wheat and 5 percent from GMO rice. "Over the longer-term, other broadacre GMO grain crops, such as wheat, soyabean, rice and maize, may also be approved for commercial plantings and adopted by Australian farmers," ABARE said.
Australia, the second-biggest wheat exporter after the United States, is conducting field trials on drought-resistant GMO wheat as the country battles a long-running drought rated as its worst in 100 years. ABARE also said that experimental field trials of wheat in Canada had produced yield increases of 9 percent.
Chinese trials had shown yield increases of 5 percent for rice. While only a small producer of rice, Australian exports are significant, at around 600,000 tonnes in a normal year.
Yield gains offered by GMO maize, or corn, amounted to around 6.5 percent, on US results, although GMO soyabeans have shown little yield gains, ABARE said. "GMO crops can provide significant economic benefits," said ABARE's executive director, Phillip Glyde, releasing the report.
"Delaying GMO uptake means we are forgoing significant economic benefits." Even though it is one of the main farm exporters in the world, Australia has been slow to adopt GMO crops, so far producing only GMO cotton and carnations.
Cotton, soyabeans, maize and canola constitute the main varieties of GMO crops around the world, with the United States the leading GMO crop nation producing 50 percent of the global total, followed by Argentina, 17 percent, Brazil, 13 percent, Canada, 6 percent, India, 5 percent, and China, 3 percent. ABARE said that adoption of GMO canola, wheat, rice, maize and soyabeans crops would produce cumulative benefits of over A$8 billion for Australia in the next 10 years.
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