While any requirement to keep non-GM grain separate from GM grains throughout the grain supply chain in Australia will impose costs on Australia’s grains industry, it appears that the costs are modest and manageable, according to a new research report by ABARE.

The report, GM Grains in Australia: Identity Preservation, was released today by Mr Phillip Glyde, Executive Director of ABARE.

Perceptions of consumer resistance to GM grains could create the need for identity preservation arrangements aimed at ensuring the non-GM status of some grains in mixed production systems of GM and non-GM crops.

Identity preservation is the process by which a crop is grown, handled, delivered, and processed under conditions that assure the customer that the crop has maintained its unique identity from seed producer to end user.

‘If GM canola was introduced in Australia, the case studies undertaken by ABARE suggest that additional costs to producers of identity preserved non-GM canola would average 4–6 per cent of their farm gate canola price in a typical year,’ Mr Glyde said.

Mr Glyde pointed to the wide and successful experience in Australia of identity preservation with conventional grains like durum wheat and malting barley.

Mr Glyde also recognised that identity preservation with GM grains involved some new challenges.

‘ABARE is of the opinion that the costs of identity preservation with GM crops are manageable,’ he concluded.

In releasing the report, Mr Glyde acknowledged the support of the Grains Research and Development Corporation and funds made available under the National Biotechnology Strategy.

Report: http://www.abareconomics.com/publications_html/crops/crops_06/GM_grains.pdf