Time for Australia to join the GM revolution

When Columbus first reached the Americas, he never foresaw the revolutionary impact his discovery would have upon the world's kitchen tables.

Over the centuries which followed, meats, fruits, vegetables and new farming methods spread across the globe with breathtaking results.

Peruvian potatoes lifted living standards in Ireland, Caribbean cassava transformed diets in Africa and livestock, horses and grain crops revolutionised farming and mobility in the Americas. Put simply, this global transference transformed the world so fundamentally that it would never be the same again. To most historians, this period is commonly referred to as the Columbian Exchange.

In regard to Australia's experience, the results were also significant. By the time our part of the world was discovered, much of the biological transference had already occurred. As a result, Australia's European settlers were in a prime position to use this reality to build one of the world's wealthiest agricultural trading nations.

Sadly, as one of the greatest beneficiaries of the original Columbian Exchange, Australia remains one of its poorest students. Despite the Columbian Exchange being the foundation upon which modern Australian prosperity is built, most Australians remain apprehensive about its modern day equivalent.

In today's world, a second Columbian Exchange is presently underway in which new agricultural products are available for transference much like they were 500 years ago. However, unlike those commodities being discovered in one hemisphere and transferred to another, today's commodities are being discovered in laboratories. They are called genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

GMOs are organisms such as food crops which have had their genes altered or enlarged so that they possess new characteristics. Some valued changes include resistance to pests and diseases, different ripening speeds, production of larger fruits and seeds, greater absorption of light, nutrients and water, better resilience for transportation and stronger tolerance for climates previously deemed too dry, high, wet, cold, frost effected, saline or nutrient deficient.

Such changes result in higher living standards, stronger productivity, better yields, increased farm incomes, lower input costs and improved environmental outcomes. In many ways, this process is a continuation of the selective breeding programmes commenced in the Neolithic revolution 10,000 years ago. But whereas in the past it would take a multi-generation "hit and miss" approach, in today's laboratories, the process can take only a few years.

While it is hard to imagine, genetically modified plants and animals are best conceptualised as new commodities being discovered on the mythical continent of Labratoria. Whereas 500 years ago the transference of biological products from one hemisphere to another revolutionised the farming methods of the time, in our era, the transference of genetically modified products from the laboratory to farmland is accomplishing the very same thing.

How Australia is missing out

Australia is not embracing this agricultural revolution as enthusiastically as it should be.

In total, only 0.7mha of Australian farm land hosts GM crops. This represents 0.0041 per cent of the total amount of land used for GM crops worldwide.

Despite enjoying the successful fruits of a multi-century history of openness towards new ideas, products and technology, today's Australia is one where fear is turning it into an agriscience backwater. In fact, its approach to foreign ideas in agriculture is so bad that some states even ban the production of natural crops which are not native to Australia.

Suffocating regulations, commercial release bans and state based marketing restrictions all presently work to undermine Australia's ability to embrace of the latest Columbian Exchange. As a result, Australia has become a GM transference laggard.

The international scene

Between 1996 and 2012, GM crop hectares have increased 100-fold from 1.7 million hectares to 170 million.

America is presently the world's largest agricultural exporter and grower of GM crops. It has 69.5mha of active GM crop land representing 41 per cent of total GM crop land in use. It also enjoys a near 90 per cent average adoption rate across all GM crops. Despite persistent claims that America is becoming anti-science, its agricultural community remains fervently pro-technology.

Twenty-eight nations across every other continent have also embraced the latest Columbian Exchange. Brazil (36.6mha), Argentina (23.9mha), Canada (11.6mha), India (10.8mha), and China (4mha) all have vast tracks of land in GM crop production. Combined, these five nations represent 51 per cent of global GM production – 124 times Australia's share!

What is at stake for Australia

The risks facing Australia in not embracing the latest Columbian Exchange are extremely serious. There are three areas of risk:

1. the loss of international competitiveness;
2. an inability to unlock the continent's full agricultural potential; and
3. the loss of agriculture's best entrepreneurs and scientists

International competitiveness

International agricultural markets are amongst the most competitive in the world. Therefore, it goes without saying that increasing productivity will always be vital for maintaining long term market share and growth.

As demonstrated above, GM technology is playing an increasingly larger role in determining how effectively agricultural products are being produced around the world. If Australia does not keep pace with world's best practice, it runs the risk of losing market share to its more productive rivals.

Continental transformation

One of the most important features of GM technology is its ability to change the character of organisms. GM can offset weaknesses, enhance strengths and even create new potential in plants and animals.

For a nation like Australia which is home to 5.9 per cent of the world's land territory, this could be a transformative power.

GM technology could be used to open up new areas to agriculture, lift yields in poor performing areas, counteract salinity, help grains fix their own nitrogen and kill pests and disease. Imagine the economic benefits of being able to grow what we want, where we want, at the most economically efficient price we can.

Australia risks missing out on this amazing opportunity by turning its back on GM.

The talent and brain drain

If Australia wishes to be amongst the most successful agricultural producer nations in the world, it must ensure it plays good host to the best available talent. The easiest way to achieve this is by creating a business and research environment which rewards hard work and encourages innovation.

Unfortunately, Australia's current GM posture does just the opposite. Unless Australia adjusts its approach to this revolutionary stream of science, it risks losing its best home grown entrepreneurs and researchers to nations where GM is being embraced.

Essential GM reforms

Due to Australia's overtly cautious position on GM, it now faces the very real possibility of becoming uncompetitive in the world's food, fibre, aquaculture and forest product markets.

If Australia is to secure a growing market share in global agricultural markets, unlock the continent's full potential and become a GM technology leader, fundamental reform must take place. There are seven key areas where action must be taken:

• reduce the cost of GM commercialisation;
• accelerate GM trial approval;
• remove state GM moratoriums;
• create a stable regulatory environment;
• lift segregation tolerance levels;
• repeal GM labelling requirements; and
• boost community confidence in GM products.

If Australia can find a way to successfully embrace these seven critical reforms, then it may be lucky enough to save its agricultural future before technological obsolescence snuffs it out.

Over the past 10,000 years, humanity has almost continuously laboured to improve the quality, adaptability, variability and yield of its agricultural production. This process has transitioned from ancient domestication techniques, to the first Columbian Exchange, to the British Agricultural Revolution, through to the adoption of mechanisation and the Green Revolution. Wherever one looks, humanity has nearly always strived to lift its agrarian operational performance.

In today's world, the latest Columbian Exchange is the successor to this important legacy. While many of its concepts are new, its fundamental character remains the same – it represents the next revolution in human agricultural affairs.

For the past 20 years, Australia has chosen to ignore this reality. This situation cannot be permitted to continue any longer. The time has come to join the revolution.