GLOBALLY, the area cultivated to what is known as “biotech” crops is growing quickly, reflecting the benefits brought to growers, which include yield gains, weed and pest management.
The most recent data shows that in 2017, 189.8 million hectares of biotech/genetically modified (GM) crops were planted across 24 countries, and imported by 43 countries, according to industry organisation the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).
To date, growth in planted hectares has been largely confined to the world’s major crop exporters, who face a challenge accessing some markets due to the significant variations in biotech crop import approvals globally.
Adding to the complexity, regulatory policies can vary from country to country, depending on factors including:
• different crop varieties which are approved for different uses (for example, environmental release, human food or animal feed),
• the local definition of “genetically modified”,
• tolerance thresholds for what constitutes low-level presences of a biotech crop and
• import testing protocols.
Although the terms biotech and genetically-modified are often used in the same context, by definition, GM is a type of biotechnology, which is important to differentiate from new biotechnologies such as gene editing.
How regulators differentiate between inserting a foreign gene to alter a trait (genetic modification) and changing existing DNA to alter a trait (gene editing) will dictate the uptake and, in turn, success of new breeding innovations.
Once approved by government, how consumers make this differentiation too is a critical factor in the uptake of new biotech crops.
Internationally, countries are able to restrict biotech imports according to two WTO agreements – the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (SPS), which focusses on whether the product is safe or unsafe for health reasons, and the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), which covers technical requirements, including labelling.
A source of much debate to date is the difficulty facing countries in the risk assessment of biotech crops to health and the environment.
Irregularities in biotech crop policy have caused trade issues in the past.
In 2014, China turned away 1.45 million tonnes of one particular GM corn variety from the US, leaving the US faced with a distressed cargo, limited off-load options due to regulation and ultimately needing to negotiate a much cheaper price.
And earlier this year, Chinese processors cancelled orders of US GM corn following more stringent import conditions for the crop, instead sourcing crop declared as non-GM from Ukraine.
As biotechnologies become more complex and widespread, countries are going to need to focus on a joint, harmonised science-based approval process, whereby agreements are focused on facilitating efficient trade flows.
Behind a backdrop of rising tariff barriers, the importance of lower technical barriers to ensure world trade can remain efficient is only heightened.
As biotech innovations come available to farmers (GM, gene-edited or otherwise), the absence of regulatory barriers for end-market access will be critical for the success of these new crops.
For farmers, this risk must be built into planting considerations.