Kimberley Cotton Research Destroyed Under Instructions From Bayer Australia: DAFWA

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Kimberley Cotton Research Destroyed Under Instructions From Bayer Australia: DAFWA

A genetically modified cotton trial in the Kimberley's Ord Irrigation Scheme has been destroyed just prior to harvest, under instructions from the company.

The German pharmaceutical and agrichemical giant is in the process of merging with American seed and biotechnology company Monsanto, in a massive deal worth $US66 billion. In a statement to ABC Rural, the WA Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) confirmed it was instructed to destroy its cotton trial two weeks ago. "DAFWA has an agreement with Bayer Australia to undertake a cotton trial at the Kununurra Research Facility in 2016," it said.

DAFWA would not provide any further comment on why Bayer wanted the crop destroyed, telling ABC Rural that "any further queries should be directed to Bayer Australia". It is understood Bayer has cancelled a number of its cotton R&D projects across Australia. Graham Clapham farms cotton near Toowoomba on Queensland's Darling Downs and has been involved with the Bayer R&D program for a number of years. He had a trial site ready to be planted for this coming season, but was told not to bother. "I've been informed by the plant breeder that the site won't be required for its intended purpose, which was for transgenic cotton plant research," he said. "I've had no official notification from Bayer as such. "The site is still under regulation from the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) and it's my understanding that we're not at liberty to actually go in and do what we want on that trial site until we get signed-off from the OGTR. "So we'll have to engage with Bayer and see what we can and can't do on that site."

Clapham said the trial site was a couple of hectares and the uncertainty and regulation going ahead was not a major issue. "I'm not upset with Bayer because we've worked with these protocols and the OGTR now for a number of seasons," he said.

"The only thing I suppose that disappoints me, is that Bayer has pulled out and is not proceeding with its cotton research program, that disappoints me."