By Eric Cummins
A world in which foods are produced after being genetically modified
to achieve specific benefits has already arrived, on a limited scale, but
there are no moves within the Australian wine industry to apply this
technology commercially.
Scientists have already grown Australia's first GM grapevine, in
secure laboratory conditions, and research continues to fully understand how
to produce the exact grapes that winemakers want.

The issue has been raised publicly by the National Farmers' Federation
with a warning that farmers and horticulturists need to adopt GM cropping as
a matter of urgency to maintain their commercial competitiveness.

But the current position of the Australian wine industry, expressed by
the Winemakers' Federation of Australia, is that no GM organisms be used in
the production of Australian wine.

"Underpinning this success is a culture of innovation and a
willingness to improve the way grapes are grown and wine is made," WFA said
in a statement.

"The industry will continue to explore new developments in all areas
of science but will only apply these new practices commercially when there
are clear consumer benefits and public acceptance of the practices."

Wine Grape Growers Australia executive director, Mark McKenzie, says
genetic modification was obviously an issue the industry needed to keep its
eye on.

"We need to do more plant breeding work in a changing environment and
we think we can do it with the present technology," he said.


[nqr.farmonline.com.au]