TWO Canadian farmers will speak against genetically modified wheat at a special forum in Horsham tonight.
Peter Eggers, a grain and livestock farmer from Alberta province, and Saskatchewan wheat producer Matt Gehl are both members of the National Farmers Union in Canada.
They are speaking at the Wesley Performing Arts Centre, on the corner of Roberts and Urquart streets at 7.30pm. The talk was organised by a coalition of anti-GM groups, including Greenpeace and the Network of Concerned Farmers.
Award winners
WAKOOL student Laura Kaylock has won the Greg Graham Memorial Scholarship to help her studies at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.
The scholarship is awarded to a tertiary student from a rice industry family in memory of Mr Graham, a former Ricegrowers Association of Australia president.
Ms Kaylock is studying for a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at CSU and hopes to work in the rice industry upon graduation.
The Peter Connor book award was won by Nick Atkinson, of Finley, studying for a Bachelor of Agriculture and Business at Melbourne's La Trobe University.
Aid grant
A US aid agency has awarded a $4.2 million grant to a biosciences company to develop salt-tolerant rice for Bangladesh.
The funding by the US Agency for International Development to Californian company Arcadia Biosciences will also be used to measure greenhouse gas emission in Bangladeshi and Indonesian rice crops.
Saline soils and water strip between $15 billion and $20 billion off the world's crops. It is particularly a problem in coastal regions of Bangladesh, where rice yields are as much as 1-1.5 tonnes a hectare lower than more productive land.
- Send your grain news to Peter Hemphill, The Weekly Times, PO Box 14999, Melbourne, 8001, email to hemphillp@theweeklytimes.com.au or fax it to (03) 9292 2697.
