Seeds of GM discontent

Derrinallum based John Sheehan is just one of many farmers who have lost their enthusiasm for GM canola, in just two years. Read the rest of his story in this article.

“Despite the claims of increased yields from GM proponents, Sheehan has recorded no such increase. What he has noticed is a much higher cost of using GM canola than using TT varieties. Roundup Ready canola costs $25 a kilogram, whereas TT costs about $4 - although this is modified by the amount needed to be planted. 'With TT you have to plant about five kilos to the hectare whereas with Roundup Ready and Clearfield , you only have to plant three.

'But the real problem with Roundup Ready is the very limited window allowed for weed spraying. You can only spray the plants when they have between two and six leaves … There are times when you might need to spray if weeds develop when the plants have 12 leaves, but if you do that you really knock them around. This [limitation] has really taken the gloss off GM.'
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