Fairfax NZ

PROTEST: Luthar Donselaar, 6, at a New Plymouth march against the use of genetically modified organisms in New Zealand food.

A visit to an experimental farm run by the Monsanto Corporation and others in the Mississippi delta has changed the way Southland Federated Farmers' president Russell MacPherson views genetic modification (GM).

MacPherson admits he left New Zealand thinking genetic modification of crops was not important to New Zealand farmers, but after seeing several effective applications of the technology in the Mississippi River delta, he believes farmers here should at least debate the potential benefits of the technology.

"I think it's important that New Zealanders don't just put genetic engineering on the shelf because we're not interested," he said. "Let's not become an agricultural museum.

"There are some aspects of genetic engineering that could actually help resolve some environmental problems in New Zealand."

The Mississippi River is renowned for its heavy sediment loading from intensive farming of its flood plains, concisely captured in the famous adage: "Too thick to drink and too thin to plough."

During a recent farming study tour of the United States with 25 Southland farmers, MacPherson visited a corn farm in the Mississippi River delta which is regularly flooded and fertilised by silt from the river.

He said soil loss was a major concern for growers on commercial scale farms, who had slowed sediment losses from 36 kilograms an acre to 9kg an acre through a policy of no tillage cultivation.

Genetically modified herbicide tolerant corn seeds are direct drilled into the previous season's slash and when weeds emerge they are sprayed with a herbicide to reduce competition.

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Farmer calls for debate on GM potential