SOUTH Australian croppers will have to wait another four years to gain access to genetically-modified seed, as both major political parties agree to extend the moratorium until 2014.
The commitments come as the West Australian Government lifted their moratorium in January, in line with the rest of the states, except SA and Tasmania.
And while some croppers may consider this good news, others are also wary as to how the State's GM-free status will be maintained.
South East farmer Michael Lange grows crops in SA and Victoria and said trucks frequently crossing the border would make it difficult to stop contamination.
"You only have to look at the side of the road and see lucerne growing everywhere, even when it's not being grown in the paddock, why would it be different for GM canola?" he said.
"I think it will be very hard for them to keep GM crops separate from non-GM."
However, Agriculture Minister Paul Caica said a quick emergency action plan was the best defence, similar to a fruit-fly outbreak.
Primary Industries and Resources South Australia grains industry development manager Dave Lewis said the two incursions that have been reported in SA both turned out to be false readings.
"These incidents, however, tested our system and proved that it worked well," he said.
"We were able to trace the grain back and identify the source and take the appropriate action under the Act (Genetically Modified Crops Management Act 2004)."
Industry standards state that in SA, canola found to have less than 0.9 per cent GM contamination is still classed as non-GM canola, which allows for 'accidental' incursion. However, Mr Lewis said agreements within the Australian seed industry made it difficult for large-scale contamination to occur.
Some of the rules in the agreement include:
• Companies that have GM seed do not supply SA farmers.
• Grain traders, like Viterra, rigorously test all deliveries of grain for presence of GM.
• PIRSA's plant health operations group conduct routine inspections on machinery and related agricultural equipment that are intended to be used across or near State borders.
• GM farmers who live close to the SA border have to nominate where the seed will be sown to suppliers and adequate buffer lines must be observed.
"It is quite a rigorous process and the system has worked well so far, so maintaining the moratorium ensures SA does not have to worry about containment at this present time," Mr Lewis said.
Mr Caica said he had also yet to see any "clear economical market advantage to going GM".
"Some of my Federal colleagues may not agree with me, but I think there may be a bigger economic marketing advantage for SA to promote itself as GM-free, similar to being phylloxera-free and fruit fly-free," he said.
The Liberal Party also agreed to maintain the State's 'clean, green image' until 2014 and monitor niche markets, such as Japan and the EU. Shadow Agriculture Minister Adrian Pederick said he had yet to see any major benefit to growing GM crops.
"They are certainly not the silver bullet that they have been made out to be, especially in yields," he said.
"However there is a lot of opportunity for marketing GM-free canola. We should pursue them."
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