Failure on GM Crops Could Ruin Livestock Industry

The European Commission, the bloc's executive, is entitled to rubber-stamp the applications to import four types of maize and one type of potato into the EU.

However, Copa-Cogeca, which represents the EU's farmers, said that with feed prices rising and suppliers in the Americas increasingly planting GM seeds, the industry faced ruin without a speedier approval process. Approvals must first go to national governments, which rarely agree.

"It takes two to four years to approve a GM crop in Europe, 15 months in the US. We cannot compete," said Simon Michel-Berger, Copa-Cogeca's spokesman.

Pig rearers are already struggling, he said. Feed costs have risen by 50 per cent but prices have fallen 8 per cent. Without help - including export refunds and subsidised storage - up to a fifth of producers could give up by the end of the year.

Sign up for our
regular news updates

Latest Poultry Industry News

•   XIII WPC Report: Huvepharma Adds to Veterinary Pharmaceuticals Range
•   BIRD FLU: Kyoto Prof Creates Bird Flu Antibodies from Ostrich Egg
•   Alliance: Cobb-Vantress and Hendrix Genetics
•   US Prohibits the Extralabel Use of Cephalosporin
•   Big is Beautiful: Clarence Court Goes Very Large
•   NFUS: Defra Debate on Cost Share is a Waste of Time
•   Burundi: Untreatable Disease Kills 1000 Chicken
•   Poultry CRC: the Leading Global Research Body
•   Californian Chicken Could Come Home to Roost
•   IFA: Dangers of Mandelson's WTO Deal Accepted