Australia
August 7, 2007
A new publication released today
by Australia’s peak grains research body will inform debate
surrounding the use of biotechnology to deliver higher value
crops.
FutureCrop, published by the
Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), explores
recent biotechnology advances and investigates developments
overseas, where more than 10 million farmers have found ready
markets for genetically modified crops.
 The
booklet was launched at the Agriculture Australia conference in
Melbourne by Sussan Ley, the Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
Managing Director Peter Reading (photo) said the GRDC, which
invests in research on behalf of graingrowers and the Australian
Government, had closely monitored the biotechnology debate and
was aware of industry positions that favour and oppose gene
modification (GM).
“FutureCrop provides a snapshot of arguments that define
the GM debate, and demonstrates that both GM and non-GM pathways
have important roles to ensure our grains industries – and their
communities – remain viable,” Mr Reading said.
Using GM and non-GM processes, biotechnology provides the
capacity to introduce discrete genes to modern grain varieties
to improve crop yields and environmental adaptability in rapidly
changing agro-ecosystems.
It creates opportunities to produce higher value crops with
health and industrial benefits, and to mitigate economic and
environmental challenges such as climate change.
“Biotechnology has equipped breeders with molecular markers to
identify desired gene combinations early in the breeding cycle,
making crop improvements through conventional breeding more
efficient,” Mr Reading said.
“It also has produced the tools to potentially further enhance
breeding through genetic modification by broadening the range of
traits that are available to breeders and by offering these
traits in a format that can be readily implemented.”
However, while Australian breeders have embraced molecular
markers as a routine breeding tool, Mr Reading said they were
not making use of GM technologies because there is no clear path
to market in Australia for GM.
“For access to complex traits such as drought tolerance,
Australian breeders are reliant on the work of Syria-based
Western Australian researcher Dr Ken Street and his colleagues,
who sample genetic resources from the world’s original cereal
crops for use in breeding.”
 Dr
Street (photo), a scientist with the
International Centre for
Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), told today’s
Agriculture Australia conference that genetic resources were
vital for economic sustainability and food security – “a major
understated threat from global warming”.
“This is a survival issue: for many people around the world it
means avoiding starvation; for farmers in countries like
Australia it means economic survival,” he said.
Dr Street collects ancestral species and ancient crop varieties
from the Central Asia and Caucasus region (CAC) to increase the
gene pool available to plant breeders.
“The genetic base of Australian wheat comes from a European
lineage, but the CAC – where agriculture originated – is the
obvious place to look for genes that can confer traits like
frost and drought tolerance, and resistance to diseases such as
rust,” Dr Street said.
Seed collected by Dr Street and his colleagues has already been
introduced to breeding lines through conventional pathways,
leading to the development of improved pulse varieties that are
growing successfully on Australian farms and contributing to
more robust cropping rotations.
Backed by a $5 million GRDC funding grant, the seed collecting
missions also play a role in an international initiative
spearheaded by the Global Crop Diversity Trust to arrest erosion
of the world’s plant genetic resources.
“Australian help in securing these resources puts representative
bodies such as the GRDC in a prime position for ongoing access
to genetic resources from the region,” Dr Street said.
“The rapid pace of innovation has intensified the need for
communication with growers and the broader community. FutureCrop
illustrates the depth of the scientific effort underway and the
opportunities that are emerging.”
FutureCrop can be downloaded from the GRDC website at
http://www.grdc.com.au/director/events/grdcpublications
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