The Economic and Environmental Cost of Australia’s GM Canola Moratorium

Date

11 September 2018, Tuesday

Time and Venues

Venues	Local Time	Time Zone
Armidale – B55-FG-R00-Small	12:30 pm	AEST
Brisbane St Lucia QBP – Level 3 South telepresence room (3.323)	12:30 pm	AEST
Canberra Black Mountain – Discovery Lecture Theatre; Crace – Bld44- Meeting Room 3	12:30 pm	AEST
Narrabri Myall Vale – Conference Room	12:30 pm	AEST
Perth Floreat – B1b Boardroom	10:30 am	AWST
Hobart Sandy Bay – River View Room	12:30 pm	AEST
Toowoomba – Meeting Room	12:30 pm	AEST
Waite (SA): B101-FG-R00-BoardWICWest (alternative is SmallWICWest)	12:00 pm	ACST
Werribee (Melbourne) – Peacock Room	12:30 pm	AEST

Speaker

Synopsis

The environmental costs of delaying the adoption of GM canola in Australia include an additional 6.5 million kg of active ingredient applied to canola fields; a 14.3% increase in environmental impact to farmers, consumers and the ecology; 8.7 million litres of diesel fuel burned; and an additional 24 million kg of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The socio-economic considerations-based moratorium resulted in foregone output of 1.1 million metric tonnes of canola and a net economic loss to canola farmers of AU$485 million.

About the speaker

Dr. Stuart Smyth is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan, where he holds the Industry Research Chair in Agri-Food Innovation. His research focuses on sustainability, agriculture, innovation and food. Dr. Smyth publishes a weekly blog on these topics at: www.SAIFood.ca. Recent publications include an authored book with William Kerr and Peter Phillips, Biotechnology Regulation and Trade, published by Springer (2017); a co-edited book with Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, Peter Phillips and Justus Wesseler, The Coexistence of Genetically Modified, Organic and Conventional Foods, published by Springer (2016); and a co-editor book with Peter Phillips and David Castle of the Handbook on Agriculture, Biotechnology and Development, a 51 chapter book published by Edward Elgar (2014). An additional 29 journal articles have been published in the past four years.