GM contamination in WA

As we feared it appears that Kojonup organic farmer Steve Marsh has GM canola contamination on his certified organic farm, and is now waiting for test results to confirm this.

GM buffer zone breached says WA farmer
KOJONUP grower Stephen Marsh believes even more GM canola has found its way into his organically certified paddocks.

Mr Marsh was featured in last week’s Farm Weekly voicing his concern about the ineffectiveness of GM buffer-zones in the Great Southern when he found GM canola swathes had blown up against his boundary fence.

A strip of land one and a half kilometres wide over five paddocks had been contaminated and Mr Marsh’s sheep had started to eat the wayward seed pods.

Mr Marsh said the contamination had occurred over 180 hectares of his farm.

“It’s hard to know where to go from here,” he said.
Read article

Update: What we feared has occurred.
GM canola contamination has resulted in certified organic farmer Steve Marsh being decertified.

This is outrageous, and we need to act urgently to send a clear message that this uncontrollable experiment has to stop.

Please find the time to both phone and email Department of Agriculture Minister Terry Redman, and Premier Colin Barnett to register your outrage at this event.

Call Minister Redman (08) 9213 6700 or 1800 644 811
Email: Minister.Redman@dpc.wa.gov.au

So far all Redman has been able to suggest is allowing GM tolerance in organic standards! How much does he think should be allowed and where would it stop?

Monsanto continues with the line that coexistence can succeed in other countries but this depends on tolerating GM contamination. This is Australia and we have our National Organic Standards, which do not include GM contamination.

We were told that segregation would be possible, but we were lied to.
So many promises were made, and all have been broken

We were led to believe that we would have a map to show where the GM canola was grown; a list of who was growing it; random audits to ensure compliance; and GM free zones for farmers.

None of these eventuated, and now we are being told to tolerate the contamination of this unwanted crop which is being forced onto us when markets are clearly calling for GM free crops, and consumers are refusing to eat it given the choice.

As a matter of urgency please show your support for Steve Marsh and all farmers that are battling to remain GM free, by contacting Redman and Barnett today!

Janet