Western Australia Lifts GM Cotton Moratorium
2 December 2008 The new state government of Western Australian (WA) has lifted the moratorium imposed by the previous state government on the commercial production of genetically modified (GM) cotton at the Ord River Irrigation Area in the State’s north, according to a US Department of Agriculture attache report. More than 90% of Australia’s cotton production is already GM.
The WA Agriculture and Food Minister, Terry Redman, said the decision had been taken after extensive and successful GM cotton trials in the Ord River area during the last decade, yielding almost 11.5 bales a hectare. Over the years, trials of GM cotton in the Ord have not only frequently out-yielded production in other areas of Australia by about 10%, but have shown that there are no agronomic problems, including the control of insects, in growing GM cotton in the Ord.
A report released last year by a previous WA state government-appointed reference group estimated that GM cotton could be worth more than $50 million a year to the East Kimberley region, generating more than 200 full-time jobs. Allowing commercial production of GM cotton in WA could provide cotton growers facing severe water shortages in the Eastern States an alternative site that is well supplied with water all year round if they wished to relocate some of their operations to the Ord.
Get The Newsletter Today!
