GM crop ban lifted

On election eve, Kevin Rudd announced that the people of Australia had decided to embrace the future. Three days later Victorian Premier John Brumby did exactly that - giving the go-ahead for GM crops to a chorus of criticism. NSW made a similar decision.

Agriculture faces huge future challenges - more food for growing populations, more animal feed for the increasingly meat-rich diets in Asia, more biofuel, with less land (due to urban expansion), reduced greenhouse gas emissions and fertiliser run-off, and the stricture of using water more efficiently.

Scientists see a clear connection between these challenges and modern crop genetics. Over the last 50 years there has been little change in land area available for farming, and huge increases in food production needed to feed some two-billion people has been met by technological innovation. This has involved breeding better crop varieties together with increased irrigation and fertiliser use.