LEADERS from the Australian plant breeding sector have urged those in the grains industry to talk openly about technology developments to lessen a potential fear factor among consumers.
A panel session at last week's Australian Grains Industry Conference spoke of the need to highlight advances in the breeding and plant technology space.
"From the plant breeding perspective people need to be comfortable talking about their product and what we are doing to produce better varieties, if we don't you run the risk of creating fear and no one wants to talk," said Intergrain chief executive Tress Walmsley.
"We're doing lots of work with technologies such as CRISPR, where are playing with the genes in the plant, although nothing is being inserted, Intergrain has a big wheat editing program we hope will be really useful, but we need to be talking about what we are doing," Ms Walmsley said.
"Access to innovation is critical for the seeds sector and a large part of that is ensuring consumer acceptance," said Australian Oilseeds Federation Rosemary Richards.
Caroline Rhodes, South Australian Primary Producers chief executive, said breeders were playing a valuable role in creating a more sustainable agriculture sector.
"Cutting chemical use through more robust varieties, creating varieties more tailored to end use requirements and getting better water absorption in plants are all areas of research at present that will be of massive benefit," Ms Rhodes said.
She said the industry needed to be able to show the achievements of its advances in light of increasing regulation within agriculture, particularly in regards to sustainability.
"It worries me that we could be sleep walking into an environment where we can't demonstrate our credentials to government and that certain measures then become a requirement," she said.
Ms Richards said she thought the next consumer trend in the developed world would be measuring the carbon footprint of products and that Australian ag had to be able to display what it was doing right.
"In places where there is enough food the consumer is going to start looking at the sustainability credentials of the product and we have to be able to compete," she said.
"The customer is king and rather than just seeing if a product is gluten free on the ingredients list we will also see the carbon density."
Ms Richards said concepts such as the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) could play a role in spite of some negative publicity from those that wanted to develop Australia-specific standards.
"I have been involved in the ISCC through the canola industry and there are some positives there, it can be a help for growers."
Ms Walmsley said she was confident the right framework was in place for the plant breeding sector to get things right with the increased focus on sustainability.
"In Australia we have the wonderful EPR (end point royalty) system in place, which gives the breeders confidence to do what we do.
"We often have international visitors out to have a look at how the EPR system works and they get to see the highly competitive and well-resourced plant breeding sector that is a result of the scheme."
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
