April 9, 2003

Backgrounder from Biotechnology Australia

Not enough is yet known about the view of Australian farmers to make definitive statements about their future acceptance or rejection of genetically modified crops will be, according to Mr Craig Cormick, the
Manager of Public Awareness for the Commonwealth Government agency Biotechnology Australia.

Speaking today at the Australian Biotechnology Summit in Sydney about community attitudes and ethical concerns about biotechnology, he said that it was dangerous for policy makers to be making decisions based on incomplete data.

'While several surveys on farmers’ willingness to grow GM crops have been conducted, they are more indicators of attitudes than actual findings, due to flawed methodologies,' he said. 'What is needed is a comprehensive random phone poll of growers that more accurately reflects the breadth of opinions and the depth of different attitudes amongst Australian farmers, not just the opinions of those few who reply to a postal survey of members of any particular organisation,' he said.

Biotechnology Australia has been conducting surveys of public opinion for over three years, measuring trends and attitude change towards different applications of biotechnology, including GM crops and foods, cloning and stem cells.

'In working directly with communities in rural Australia, it has become obvious that traditional broad indicators of attitudes, such as media coverage and motions put forward by local councils, have not always reflected the attitudes of farmers in an area,' Mr Cormick said. He also said that Biotechnology Australia is seeking to undertake a broader survey of Australian farmers, state by state, that will more accurately reflect actual grower’s attitudes. 'Many people have opinions about GM crops and the decisions Australian farmers will make about growing them or not, but very few of these decisions are based on actually knowing what the farmers attitudes to GM crops are,' he said.

'And to complicate this, anti-GM groups are seeking to portray farmers as being very against GM crops and pro-GM groups are seeking to portray them as being supportive of them.

'It is important for people making policy decisions about GM crops to really know what farmers think, as it is important for farmers to know what consumers think.

'Our surveys show that about 50 per cent of people would prefer not to eat GM foods, and about 50 per cent would eat them, although there are differences in the types of food preferences people have. 'For instance, people who eat lots of processed or fast foods will more likely accept GM foods than those who eat health foods,' he said. 'Decisions relating to GM crops are important ones, and need to be made with accurate data,' he said.

The backgrounder in PDF format is at:
http://www.biotechnology.gov.au/library/content_library/BA_Media_Farmers_Survey_April03.pdf