Just wondering if anyone can tell me, even if the figures are approximate, what the percentage is of GM soya versus non GM soya production worldwide and how much GM Soya do we already import into this country?  

About 95% of Argentinian soya is GM.

About 80% of USA's soya is GM

About 35% (and growing) of Brazils soya is GM.

 I know that farmers are now experiencing big problems with round up resistant weeds.

I hope this is of some use to you.

Yes the majority of canola and soy's are roundup here but canola is going back to liberty ...As roundup beans are proving to be favourable and roundup canola is becoming a difficult weed .Beans are never a problem in following crops as volunteers never survive our winters as canola does...?????????

I never have a problem with volunteer beans either, only a slight one with volunteer corn.  Seeing some weed resistance to Roundup, but not much.

Thanks guys, that was just a question I was pondering on as my poultry ration has had GM soya oil and GM soya on the label for well over a year now but judging by an article in the Poultry World this month all the big retailers have had, or still have,strict non GM policies until recently. The article by Robert Newbery of the NFU suggests that poultry farmers aren't using GM in their ration and will have to pay dearly if they wish to continue as Brazil is increasing GM Soya output up to 80% by 2010. I wondered how many others have got GM in their feed already, the public is obviously unaware and may have been consuming poultry fed on GM rations for months if not years already. Or is the label stating that there is GM soya in my feed just in case it has come into contact with some at some stage during it's lifespan and it is merely a coverall 'get off the hook' type legal type statement?

have grown GM and exported it for years. You would be extreemely hard pushed to find a supply of Soya that is 100% free of GM soya. Be it in bottom of silos, or grain handling systems and ships are never totaly clean.

Doesn't seem to be killing people or animals anywhere it is grown.

A rr volenteer is hardly a problem is a normal rotation.

Regards. 

@ Tiza....The majority of our rape and beans are "gm" So when growing more than one "RR" crop it can become a problem...

And when you only grow the crops that pay......Between "RR's",Sunflowers and oats the rotation is a bit limited....Personally "RR" rape shows up for years in "RR" beans and is easy to spray but is outragously expensive....Beans never seem to volunteer the same as they  don't survive our winters..?

RR soya and RR  maize hope soon for liberty link rape.

No problems in our rotations. As suns plus wheat also in the rotation.

Hope that is clearer

Regards

I gave a presentation to some supermarkets recently on this issue. Very briefly:

Brazil has plenty of GM free soy available and as the industry starts to pay realistic premiums Brazilian farmers are willing and able to meet a 0.1% threshold. Imcopa ship around 2.5m tonnes of nonGM to EU and Bunge ship 500,000t to UK

Its certainly a curiosity that the EU poultry industry still uses GM free rations when the pig and beef industry use GM - but its not penalising the UK producer because Brazilian and Thia producers wanting access to the EU market also use GM free.

The additional cost to the producer of GM free ration is around £20/ton (but does fluctuate with highs of £50 and lows of £10) which equates to around 3p/kg of chicken meat. That is a significant burden to the producer but before everyone gets very excited it needs putting into the context of the huge increase in the cost of rations due to recent global increase in prices of grain and oilseed - about 25p/kg of chicken regardless of GM or GM free.

The point is that the industry can't afford soya - GM or GM free. To get bogged down in an argument about GM free soya costing 3p/kg, when the real issue is that the industry can't afford the increased cost of rations, is madness

Also, I would suggest that any producer who believes he/she will retain any savings from switching to GM rations when the supermarkets work out the costings is being incredibly naive.

I would readily switch back to some non GM soybeans if there was a close market that paid a good premium, to me a good premium would be another $2 per bushel.  As high as soybeans are now,  I don't see that happening.  As I mentioned on another thread, with our wet weather here in the USA this summer, Roundup ready is what is saving us from a catastrophe with regard to weeds.