VICTORIA saw a five-fold increase in the area sown to genetically modified canola last year and plantings are expected to accelerate.
Monsanto Australia's Peter O'Keeffe told the Rural Press Club of Victoria last week 62 growers planted 5000ha in the state in 2008, but this ballooned to 200 growers and 27,000ha last year.
"I am confident the trend will accelerate," Mr O'Keeffe said.
Monsanto is expecting a big uptake of GM canola in Western Australia during the coming year, following the WA Government's removal of the moratorium on plantings.
The company said 450 growers had so far been accredited to grow the crop in WA, with about 30,000ha expected to be planted this season.
But with a big WA uptake, the company said there might be seed shortages of some Roundup Ready varieties, so Victorian and NSW growers should confirm their seed requirements early.
Mr O'Keeffe said about 13.3 million farmers planted about 110 million ha of farmland to GM crops worldwide in 2008.
Most of that was to soyabeans, corn and cotton.
Canola only accounted for about three million ha of the global GM crop.
Mr O'Keeffe said there were 1.3 million farmers who planted a GM crop for the first time in 2008.
He said 25 countries now allowed GM crops to be sown, including Canada, where 92 per cent of farmers planted a GM crop each year.
"This is why Australian growers need to have access to this technology: so they can remain competitive on the global stage," he said.
"This farming system is available to the rest of the world and it needs to be available to our farmers as well."
Mr O'Keeffe said Monsanto was pitching its Roundup Ready canola varieties against the Triazine Tolerant canolas in Australia. He said 72 per of canola grown in Australia was Triazine Tolerant.
TT varieties did not yield as well as Roundup Ready canola and had poorer oil quality, he said, while a survey of 59 commercial crops in 2008 showed Roundup Ready canola yielded 22 per cent higher than TT varieties. The oil content of the Roundup Ready crops averaged 39.4 per cent in 2008.
This was compared with 37.4 per cent for the TT varieties.
Last year, a comparison of 20 canola crops found Roundup Ready out-yielded the TT crops by 15 per cent, while the oil content was 42 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.
