There is strong demand among growers for biotechnology to address many agricultural problems in Poland – one of six EU countries to still have national bans on genetically modified (GM) organisms – where the sale, registration, and use of GM seeds are illegal, reports US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS).
Poland currently plans to institute a ban on GM feed, which will go into effect December 2012. However, the plan could be scrapped if the current pressure on the government from industry associations, scientists, and producers to allow GM feed continues. In arguing to cancel the ban, growers cite the steadily rising cost of agricultural inputs – especially fertilizer, the use of which grew more than 20% from 2004/05 to 2005/06. Additionally, pesticide usage per hectare has doubled since 2000. These higher prices are passed down from the producers to the millers and eventually to consumers. GM varieties require fewer inputs, and could reduce farmers’ overall costs, resulting in lower food production and consumption prices.
Despite Poland’s official “GM-Free” status, cultivation of GM seed is still possible through a legislative glitch. However, the government plans to update its cultivation law soon to ensure that no planting will occur. The new law “will make criminals of farmers,” says USDA-FAS, as it will require that farmers' locations of GM plants be publicly available on the internet, which could invite activists to destroy crops.
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