GMO Food for Thought

Holtzapffel R., Johnson H. and Mewett O., (2007) , Foreword

Australia produces between 2 and 3 million tonnes of oilseeds each year, with canola and cottonseed being the major crops. These two crops account for 92% of Australia’s total oilseed production. The gross value of oilseed production averaged $766 million over the three years to 2005/06, around 7% of the total gross value of Australian grain production.

This report summarises the environmental, agronomic and economic benefits seen in Australia and overseas as a result of growing GM oilseed crops. It details the types of GM oilseed crops being grown or developed in Australia and overseas; and discusses the issues that were raised during consultations with the oilseed industry in Australia. The consultations identified a widespread belief that the Australian oilseed industry will struggle over the next five to ten years. One of the reasons identified for this was the adoption of GM crops in competitor countries. Other reasons are also discussed in this report. Access to GM technology was widely viewed as one option that could assist the oilseed industry to remain viable and competitive in the future.

Executive Summary

• Oilseed crops are important to Australian agriculture.
The world’s major oilseed crops are soybean, rapeseed (including canola), peanut, oil palm and sunflower. Australia produces between 2 and 3 million tonnes of oilseeds each year, with canola and cottonseed being the major crops. These two crops account for 92% of Australia’s total oilseed production with peanuts, soybeans and sunflower seeds accounting for the remaining 8%.

The gross value of oilseed production averaged around 7% of the total gross value of Australian broadacre crop production over the three years to 2005/06. Over the same period, Australian exports of oilseeds averaged around 8.5% of the total value of Australian exports of grain and oilseeds.

Some oilseeds also provide benefits to wheat and barley crops through their use in rotation cropping cycles.

• Oilseeds are widely used in food, feed and industrial applications…
Vegetable oils are widely consumed in our diets, including in margarines and processed and fried foods. Meal derived from oilseeds is an important source of protein in the stockfeed industry and vegetable oils are also used in the manufacture of soaps, industrial lubricants and paints.

• …and have been extensively modified to meet these needs.
Oilseeds have been selected over many generations to contain desirable fatty acids to suit their different uses. For example, canola was developed by selective breeding to contain low levels of anti-nutritional compounds. Other modifications have included breeding canola and sunflower varieties with high levels of monounsaturated fats to improve the frying quality of their oils.

Chemical modifications can also be made to purified vegetable oils to make margarines or to improve their stability for cooking and industrial purposes.

• Modifications are continuing to produce oilseeds that are easier and cheaper to grow…
The 2005 BRS report ‘What’s in the Pipeline?’ highlighted the significant amount of research currently being conducted on genetically modified (GM) oilseed crops. This includes a number of traits designed for easier, cheaper and more sustainable production (e.g. herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, increased yields). GM cotton varieties with herbicide tolerance and insect resistance have been widely adopted in Australia and provide benefits to the environment and farmers.

• …produce healthier oils…
A significant amount of research is also being directed into developing healthier oilseeds, particularly those which produce high levels of polyunsaturated or long chain omega-3 fatty acids; higher levels of essential amino acids and/or vitamins; or decreased allergenicity. These improvements and modifications are expected to provide health benefits for people throughout the world and to add value to oilseed crops. There are commercial drivers for this research due to public health policies recommending consumption of long chain omega-3 fatty acids, industry pressures to reduce processing costs and the increasing appeal of healthy foods for consumers.

• …and may produce pharmaceutical and industrial products in the future.
Research is also underway to produce oilseed crops designed to act as biofactories, producing pharmaceutical or industrial compounds instead of food, feed or fibre. Examples include pharmaceuticals (antibodies, vaccines or enzymes) and industrial compounds (biofuels, bioplastics, lubricant oils or enzymes). These developments are reviewed in more detail in the 2007 BRS report ‘Plant molecular farming in Australia and overseas’.

• GM oilseed crops that have been developed, or are in development, in Australia include herbicide tolerant and insect resistant cotton, and herbicide tolerant canola…
Combining a literature review and extensive consultations with representatives of the oilseed industry and State Government Agencies, BRS has identified a range of GM oilseed crops that are already in commercial production overseas or are under development in Australia and overseas.

In Australia, GM herbicide tolerant and insect resistant cotton varieties and GM herbicide tolerant canola have been approved for commercial release. Research is continuing into improving the fatty acid profiles (e.g. high oleic and/or low linolenic acid levels) and developing novel fatty acid compositions (e.g. long chain omega-3 fatty acids) for Australian oilseed crops.

• …while overseas GM cotton, canola and soybean have been commercialised.
Overseas countries have approved the commercial release of a number of GM oilseed crops, namely cotton, canola and soybean varieties incorporating herbicide tolerance, insect resistance or a combination of the two. Overseas researchers are developing oilseed crops with improved environmental stress tolerance, improved disease resistance, increased nitrogen use efficiency, increased seed size, reduced pod shatter, increased yield and increased oil content. Further research overseas is investigating ways in which to produce oilseed crops with altered fatty acid profiles or novel fatty acid composition, increased essential amino acid content (e.g. methionine and lysine), production of essential vitamin precursors (e.g. Vitamin A and E), increasing the nutritional value of stockfeed (e.g. by reducing anti-nutritional compounds such as phytic acid), and as expression platforms for pharmaceutical and industrial products (e.g. plant-made vaccines or bioplastics).

• Oilseeds play a vital role as rotational break crops for wheat and barley…
The stakeholder consultations highlighted the important place that oilseeds have in Australian agriculture. In particular, canola provides value as rotational break crops to our major crop exports: wheat and barley. Many people consulted were interested in the potential for lower production costs (first generation traits), higher value uses for oilseed crops such as specialty oils (second generation traits), or crops as biofactories (third generation traits) as potential ways to increase the value of oilseed crops. There was also a desire for public breeding programmes to continue to ensure that oilseed traits relevant to Australia are developed in the future.

• …and there are opportunities for expansion and diversification.
Canola and other oilseeds provide significant benefits to the Australian agricultural sector. A number of opportunities for expansion and diversification of the Australian oilseed industry have been identified, including: supplying increased quantities of local oilseed meal to the stockfeed industry; developing stable oils for frying that compete with palm and soybean oil imports; developing value-added oils such as long chain omega-3 fatty acids to supply a niche market for omega-3-containing oilseed crops; producing high volumes of oil for use in biodiesel production; and meeting the needs of niche markets for GM and non-GM oilseeds as they develop.

• Experience with GM oilseed crops in Australia and overseas show economic, environmental and agronomic benefits.

Experience with GM cotton crops in Australia and GM cotton and canola crops overseas has shown that there are benefits for farmers and the environment from growing these crops. For instance, in Australia the GM insect resistant cotton Bollgard II® led to an 85% reduction in insecticide use in comparison to conventional cotton over the first three seasons following its introduction in the 2002/03 season. The implementation of other Integrated Pest Management practices has also contributed to this reduction.

Results from studies overseas show net economic benefits for many farmers growing GM crops.
For GM cotton, the level of this benefit varies between countries and regions within countries due to differences in environmental and climatic conditions and in some countries, the way that GM crops are developed and sold.

In Canada, a number of agronomic benefits have been associated with the adoption of GM canola, including: improved yields; decreased herbicide use and increased weed management options; and increased ease in adopting minimum and no-till cultivation practices.

A study by the Canola Council of Canada released in 2005 indicated that Canadian canola farmers who chose to grow GM varieties were better off when compared to those who continued to cultivate conventional canola varieties. Canadian growers have not lost market share in their main export markets despite the majority of their canola crop being comprised of GM varieties. There is no evidence that GM canola is having difficulty finding ready markets throughout the world. No price premium on bulk non-GM canola shipments has been identified.

• Current challenges faced by the oilseed industry in Australia include drought, competition from soybean and palm oils…
Consultations with the Australian oilseed industry identified a number of current issues, perhaps the most immediate of which is that posed by the current drought. Canola production in the 2006/07 season is estimated to be the lowest in a decade with New South Wales the worst affected state.

The development of soybean and palm oil varieties that produce oil of similar quality to canola is of concern to the oilseed industry as both these oils are available in large volumes and at low prices on the world market. Developments such as these may affect the competitiveness of the Australian oilseed industry.

• …and the inability to adopt GM food crops such as canola due to moratoria.
The stakeholder consultations also identified a number of important challenges that will need to be addressed if GM oilseeds are to be widely grown in Australia. The most important of these are the current State and Territory Government moratoria that restrict the commercial growing of GM crops in many parts of Australia.

Other challenges identified by stakeholders were the need to address the perceived lack of public acceptance of GM technologies; and supply chain management issues such as segregation and coexistence. Many stakeholders believed that the introduction of GM oilseeds was necessary for the future viability GM oilseed of the industry, while a few stakeholders strongly disagreed.

Further investment in developing Australian GM oilseeds will be encouraged when there is a transparent and predictable pathway to market. There is also a need for communication of independent, credible, factual and practical information to producers and consumers, to inform discussion of these issues.

Following a decade of growing GM cotton in Australia, it is clear that these crops have provided economic, environmental and agronomic benefits to Australia. Similar benefits may result from growing other GM oilseed crops, if the issues identified in this report can be addressed across the whole oilseed industry. The widespread introduction of GM oilseed crops overseas is likely to continue in the future. Many of the countries adopting GM crops are competing with Australia in the world oilseed market.

In conclusion, available information strongly suggests that there will be economic, environmental and agronomic benefits from growing GM oilseed crops in Australia and opportunity costs if they are not adopted.