SOUTH Australian grain producers will be able to join their mainland colleagues in being able to grow genetically modified (GM) food crops.
The news comes after the SA state government brokered a deal with the opposition to allow an amendment to legislation that moved to scrap a moratorium on GM crops.
The changes to the Genetically Modified Crops Management (Designated Area) Amendment Bill 2019 are likely to be formally ratified in as little as a fortnight after it was voted down in the SA Upper House in December last year.
This will mean SA growers will have access to GM varieties of canola and safflower, the two main GM food crops grown in Australia.
However, that is likely to come too late for the state's canola producers, with the planting window already open.
By the time farmers got their hands on seed and got it treated the optimum planting window would likely be over, meaning safflower, a relatively niche crop in SA that can be planted any time from June right through the spring, is likely to be the first GM crop planted in the state in a meaningful way.
The moratorium on GM will remain on Kangaroo Island.
There will be caveats on the ability to grow GM crops, with local councils allowed to apply to remain GM-free, although the ultimate decision will still rest with the state primary industries minister Tim Whetstone.
Councils that wish to remain GM-free will be required to provide economic evidence why they should retain the moratorium.
Farming and agricultural groups were pleased the bill had finally passed, although disappointed canola, by far the bigger by value of the two GM crops available, would be unable to be planted this year.
Grain Producers SA president Wade Dabinett said the organisation had been working with the government and opposition for months to try and progress a bill to end the ban.
He said the council amendment, while not initially a measure GPSA had agreed with, should not form too much of a hold up.
"I think council areas, if they're going to pass a resolution to maintain the moratorium, have to ensure it's based on evidence, and all reviews show the premium does not exist," he said. "Certainly I would expect every graingrowing council region to sail through."
Although saying the compromise deal was not best practice, CropLife chief executive Matthew Cossey congratulated all parties for brokering an agreement.
"I commend Premier Marshall and Minister Whetstone for their leadership which will give South Australian farmers access to the same opportunities as their mainland state counterparts," Mr Cossey said.
"Opposition Leader, Peter Malinauskas, and Shadow Minister for Primary Industries & Regional Development, Eddie Hughes, are also to be congratulated for bringing the South Australian Labor Party back to being a political party of science.
"While the compromise is not ideal or best-practice public policy, we acknowledge the constructive work that has occurred to find agreement between the government and the opposition."
SA's GM moratorium was first introduced in 2003 by the previous Labor government and was due to remain in place until 2025.
The government drafted a bill to lift the ban but it was defeated, while a move to use a change in regulations as a means to allow growers to plant GM crops also failed.
Tasmania now is the only state with a moratorium on the production of GM crops.
