Delegates attending the Keystone Agriculture Producers’ (KAP) advisory council meeting [in Manitoba] Nov. 12 passed a resolution …. to lobby the federal government to “disallow the testing, funding, importation and introduction of glyphosate-tolerant wheat in Canada.”
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) June announcement that a few wheat plants genetically modified (GM) to tolerate glyphosate were discovered in a ditch in Alberta prompted the resolution from KAP’s District 3, Starbuck farmer Doug Livingston explained when moving the resolution.
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The Alberta discovery saw South Korea and Japan temporarily suspend Canadian wheat imports.
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The preamble to the resolution says wheat yields have increased without using “GM technologies,” and warned the introduction of glyphosate-tolerant wheat “would create a backlash from major trade partners that could heavily reduce the price of all wheat in Canada.”
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The preamble also says volunteer glyphosate-tolerant wheat could become a costly weed to control. “That scares farmers and that’s why the resolution is here,” said Lowe Farm farmer Butch Harder.
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No country has ever approved any type of GM wheat …. for commercial production. However, GM wheat has been grown in confined, outdoor, field trials in Canada, with the approval and oversight of CFIA. Last year there were 11 in Manitoba and 43 in Saskatchewan, according to CFIA. Trait objectives included herbicide tolerance, yield increase, fungal resistance, and selectable markers.
Read full, original article: KAP resolution says keep glyphosate-tolerant wheat out
