www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Organic farming and genetically modified cropping will co-exist, two of
organic farming?s staunchest defenders admitted at a public debate in London
as DEFRA?s consultation on co-existence draws to a close October 2006.

But DEFRA proposals for keeping the crops separate are too weak, they
insisted. Wider separation distances, a lower limit for GM contamination of
organic seed, a compulsory register of fields growing GM crops and improved
liability rules are all needed, they said.

?Co-existence will happen, because of the big dollars behind GM,? NFU
organic committee chairman Oliver Dowding told the ?Farming and the Future:
Can GM and Organic Crops Co-exist? debate organised by the Agricultural
Biotechnology Council and chaired by Radio 4?s Today Programme star John
Humphrys.

?I expect we will see it, but we need more robust and more transparent
protocols in place,? agreed Lawrence Woodward, director of Elm Farm Research
Centre.

Damage to organic farming?s marketing message was a key concern. ?I can see
a greater risk from co-existence, because of the impact on my market, and I?
m not prepared to take any risk at the moment, because I can see all the
risk and no benefit for me,? said Mr Dowding.

After the debate Mr Woodward told Farmers Weekly he would be happy with a
0.1% limit for GM in organic seed, instead of the proposed 0.5% limit. He
also wanted wider separation distances, more in line with earlier trials,
and a register of fields growing GM crops, plus better liability provision,
such as the laws in place in Germany or the industry fund in Denmark.

Herts farmer Bob Fiddaman, who chairs SCIMAC, the UK breeding industry?s
co-existence initiative, said co-existence was quite achievable. ?Give
farmers the protocols and we can implement them. I grow double low rapeseed
for food use and HEAR industrial rape which is poisonous to humans. With the
right separation distances and on-farm protocols I can meet the 0.3% admix
threshold, even with volunteers to cope with. It has been measured and it
can be done. We can do the same with GM.?

He felt GM crops would be grown in the UK by 2010, particularly if BASF?s
blight tolerant GM potatoes, which are currently under field evaluation,
prove a success.

The debate came against a backdrop of almost 70,000ha of GM crops being
grown across the EU this season, with co-existence measures particularly
well advanced in the Czech Republic, and fast being developed in Spain,
France and Germany.

[www.fwi.co.uk]

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