Stew Gilroy, chairman of the Canola Council of Canada, says
genetically modified varieties now dominate the Canadian industry. "In
Canada 85 per cent of the canola planted is GM and 95pc is herbicide
tolerant. The one area in Canada that still grows primarily conventional
canola is in northern Alberta because breeders have not developed a suitable
short-season GM variety for their region," he said.
Canola was one of the major cash crops for Canadian farmers in
contrast to Australia where canola had been playing an increasingly
peripheral role grown by many as a rotational crop, rather than a true cash
crop, he said.



"We (Canadians) should be growing it one year in four ideally but in a
lot of areas it has come back to one in three years as it is the one crop
keeping farmers going in a lot of areas," he said.



Mr Gilroy, in Australia for the Australian Oilseeds Federation's
annual forum, said that growers had seen good benefits agronomically from
using the herbicide tolerant GM varieties, as it allowed them to use no-till
systems.


[nqr.farmonline.com.au]