Today, the European Agriculture Ministers discussed the coexistence of growing biotech, non-biotech and organic crops.

The European biotechnology industry notes in particular the importance of the Agriculture Council’s recognition that the very different agro-environmental and growing conditions across the EU require flexibility in technical rules and for the establishment of Community wide thresholds for GM in Non GM seed. For these reasons, we support the recommendation from Council that the Commission develop more “in-depth” technical guidelines that can be adapted by the Member States to meet their own individual needs  as well as practical seed thresholds.

“EuropaBio considers that the more European farmers see the benefits provided by crop varieties developed using modern biotechnology, the more they are likely to want to grow them. Today’s recognition of that is a welcome development”, said Simon Barber of EuropaBio – the EU association for bioindustries.

However, because of unclear or prohibitive rules in some EU Member States, many growers still do not have a real choice.  EuropaBio counts on Member States and the European Commission to support today’s Council decision by ensuring all European farmers have the freedom to choose.

Coexistence in Europe is already a reality and there is ample experience of successful practices in Spain, the EU Member State that grows the largest area of GM maize.  The experience in Spain and from around the world shows that growing organic and conventional non-GM crops in the same agricultural region is possible when growers discuss their cropping plans with one another and reasonable separation measures are set in place.

Successful coexistence will partially depend on establishing practical thresholds for GM material in Non-GM seeds.  EuropaBio therefore calls on the Commission to follow the Council’s recommendation and put forward a proposal to establish practical thresholds as a matter of urgency.

Plant biotechnology contributes to growth and jobs and provides a key role in moving Europe’s knowledge based bio-economy forward. In its first ten years, agricultural biotechnology has been taken up by farmers around the world faster than any other innovation in the history of agriculture.  Currently 8.5 million farmers, across 63 countries are either growing or experimenting with 57 different GM crops. The vast majority of these farmers are in the developing world. By the end of the decade, the global market, for the entire biotech sector is forecast to amount to over €2000 billion.

EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, has 69 direct members operating Worldwide, 12 associate members and 5 bioregions as well as 24 national biotechnology associations representing some 1500 small and medium sized enterprises involved in research and development, testing, manufacturing and distribution of products.

More about GMOs in food:  www.gmo-compass.org