[The Manager of the Association of the oilseed processing industry in Germany (OVID), Petra Sprick] warned that a complete abandonment of genetic engineering in the German animal feed, [could aggravate] competition for available agricultural commodities … and lead to significant additional costs. The Managing Director pointed to an analysis of her association, according to which the EU would be able to obtain a quantity of 9.3 million tonnes of GMO-free soybeans on the world market. This resulted in 7.4 million tonnes of soybean for the feeding of cattle, pigs and poultry. However, this volume corresponds to just under a quarter of the EU demand of 33 million tonnes of soybean.
Sprick said that although Germany could theoretically abandon transgenic feedstuffs at the very beginning of its initial phase, However, according to a study by the Giessen Institute for Agribusiness (IAB), this would result in economic losses of up to € 10 billion, mainly due to production declines, a shift in production abroad and thus the loss of value added. Moreover, from the perspective of OVID, a separation of the flow of goods to avoid unintentional mixing with genetically altered plants is a logistical challenge that poses legal risks.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full article translated in to English by Google Translate: OVID warns against complete renouncement of transgenic soya
Or read the article in the original German here: OVID warnt vor vollständigem Verzicht auf transgenen Soja
