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Canola growers eager to access Europe

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Published: December 14, 2006

Canadian canola seed is poised to make its first foray into Europe in a decade.

“It could be as early as summer 2007. It could be as late as 18 months from now,” said JoAnne Buth, vice-president of biotechnology at the Canola Council of Canada.

Biotechnology products are slowly wending their way through the EU’s regulatory maze in the wake of a World Trade Organization ruling that slapped the EU for delaying the approval of genetically modified crops.

Once all six canola events or gene transfers that have been approved in Canada are approved in the EU, the doors will open to what the council believes would be a sustained one million tonne annual market for the crop.

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With huge canola demand stemming from Europe’s biodiesel sector, the EU would almost overnight become Canada’s third largest canola customer.

“It would be significant,” said Buth.

To put it in perspective, the total carryover from the 2006-07 crop is expected to be 1.45 million tonnes.

“If we had access to the EU, we would have been able to move that canola,” she said.

But the growing optimism in the canola industry needs to be tempered by the fact that some EU member states are still opposed to the importation of GM crops.

“Each step we’re getting closer, but as we get closer some of us wonder what type of roadblocks may be thrown up,” said Buth.

That is where the WTO decision should prove its worth for the canola sector.

“It essentially means we can hold their feet to the fire to ensure that things keep moving through the system,” she said.

Canadian canola has been shut out of the EU since the 1997-98 crop, the year after GM canola was first commercialized.

The canola industry is attempting to re-enter that market by getting regulatory approval for all of the GM events approved in Canada.

Five of the six gene transfers are Liberty Link events, the other is a Roundup Ready event.

The EU has already approved three of the Liberty Link events, but those are old ones used in canola varieties no longer for sale.

Two of the remaining three applications before the EU are for events appearing in commercially available crops. One is a Liberty Link event, the other a Roundup Ready. Both are expected to receive full approval by early 2007.

The third is another long obsolete Liberty Link event called T45 that is just starting to gain some regulatory momentum and is likely 18 months away from full approval.

“That’s what the delay is going to be, is the T45 approval,” said Buth.

Bayer CropScience Inc., the manufacturer of Liberty Link canola, is trying to speed the process, lobbying the European Commission to make a concession to allow low levels of contamination from varieties containing the T45 event until it is approved.

Bayer’s argument is that the varieties containing that event are no longer commercially available so there should be only trace amounts of the product, if any at all, in Canadian canola shipments.

If the company convinces the EU to offer an exemption, there is a good chance exporters could ship product there in 2007. If not, 2008 is the likely start date, barring unforeseen barriers.

In the meantime, the Canola Council of Canada is asking growers to stop planting leftover seed of varieties containing the T45 event – Exceed, 2631 LL, Swallow, SW Legion LL, SW Flare LL, and LBD 2393 LL.

While the Canadian canola industry continues to make headway in Europe, it is also breaking ground with the first shipment of GM canola to Australia. That shipment didn’t go unnoticed.

Greenpeace protestors blockaded exits at the Port of Newcastle, temporarily disrupting the unloading of 57,000 tonnes of the genetically engineered canola destined for Cargill’s processing plant in Newcastle.

“Greenpeace is taking action to prevent GE canola from sneaking into the food chain,” said Louise Sales, Green-peace GE campaigner.

About the author

Sean Pratt

Sean Pratt

Reporter/Analyst

Sean Pratt has been working at The Western Producer since 1993 after graduating from the University of Regina’s School of Journalism. Sean also has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan and worked in a bank for a few years before switching careers. Sean primarily writes markets and policy stories about the grain industry and has attended more than 100 conferences over the past three decades. He has received awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Federation, North American Agricultural Journalists and the American Agricultural Editors Association.

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