TITLE:
Economic Impact of GM Hysteria on EU Feed Market
AUTHORS:
József Popp, Károly Pető, Róbert Magda, Zoltán Lakner
KEYWORDS:
GM Crops; GM Policy; GM Debate in the EU; Feed Market; Replacing Soybean with Pulses
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.4 No.8,
July
30,
2013
ABSTRACT: A growing
world population coupled with changing diet is projected to increase demand for
food production by 70% by 2050. Helping farmers lose less of
their crops will be a key factor in promoting food security. In addition to
pesticides GM crops will continue to be a vital tool in the diverse range of
technologies that can maintain and improve living standards for the people of
the world. The EU is dependent for 65% on imports of protein-rich feedstuffs
for which there are no substitutes in the short term. The EU livestock sector
uses imported soybean, soybean meal and maize by-products as animal feed.
Without an adequate supply of these feed ingredients, the EU’s livestock
production will loose competitiveness. However, demands from the EU differ to
those from third countries with respect to the GM varieties grown, and what are authorised for import into the EU. The risk that supplies of
soya products and maize by-products could be affected by the low-level presence
of non-EU approved GM material has not been fully resolved as the EU has
allowed just a 0.1% tolerance for this plus 0.05% tolerance for measuring
uncertainty. This could cause supply problems for the animal feed
industry, and ultimately supply of food to consumers. The importance of the EU
market and EU requirements for the major soybean and maize exporter countries
is declining over time and it is becoming
increasingly difficult and costly to maintain a non-GM supply chain in the EU. Food companies and supermarkets will
struggle to stay GM-free. EU member states dependent on imports will be forced
to deal with more GM presence in their chain. Market forces are forcing
governments to authorize products more efficiently, develop tolerance policies
or tolerate unapproved varieties in their imports.