Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Grain Farmers of Ontario chairman Don Kenny recently returned from a trade mission in Belgium to advocate for a tolerance level for future shipments of genetically modified food.
The European Union, Canada’s largest export market for soybeans, currently has no tolerance for even minuscule traces of unapproved genetically modified material in imported grain shipments. Meetings were held with EU commissioners, Members of Parliament and industry representatives to emphasize the importance of supporting science-based trade regulations.
“Canada exported almost a million tonnes of soybeans to the EU in 2009 and the zero tolerance rules are a big threat to future exports,” said Kenny. “Allowing a low-level presence of unapproved GM in future grain shipments would be a great benefit to our soybean farmers.”
Last year was a phenomenal year for soybean production in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, with a record 4.2 million tonnes produced. Of that, approximately 2.7 million tonnes was exported.
“Grain Farmers of Ontario is committed to protecting and expanding our soybean export markets and this trip was an excellent opportunity to discuss this important issue with EU officials,” said Kenny.
He said Grain Farmers of Ontario was proud to represent Canada on the trade mission and thanked Ritz for advocating for a low-level tolerance of unapproved GM material in future grain shipments from Canada.
GFO is the largest commodity organization in Ontario, representing Ontario’s 28,000 corn, soybean and wheat farmers. Those three crops cover five million acres of farm land across the province, generate over $2.5-billion in farm gate receipts, result in over $9-billion in economic output and have created over 40,000 jobs.
