The Cost of Australia’s GM Canola Moratorium

[progressoid]

Substantial environment impacts due to rejection of GM canola

Canada approved GM canola in 1995 and following 2 years of seed multiplication, farmers started growing GM canola in 1997. By 2004, 75% of canola farmers in Canada were growing GM varieties. After a decade of GM canola production I surveyed farmers and found the following:

~ canola farmers’ income increased by $350-400 million a year;
~ the environmental impact of the chemicals applied to canola dropped by 53% when compared to the chemicals that were previously used on canola;
~ the volume of chemicals applied to canola dropped by 3 million kg per year; and
~ 1 million tonnes of carbon were either sequestered by the soil or no longer released from implement passes.

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This study estimates what the adoption level for GM canola could have been after one decade of production, 2004-2014, had the moratorium not been implemented. The adoption delay of GM canola production has cumulatively resulted in:

~ the application of an additional 6.5 million kg of chemicals;
~ 7 million additional field passes were made, requiring 8.7 million litres of diesel;
~ 24 million kg of greenhouse gases were released;
~ the environmental impact of the additional chemicals applied was 14% higher; and
~ Australian farmers lost the opportunity to increase their farm revenues by $485 million

....http://www.saifood.ca/australia-gm-canola-moratorium-cost/