Ending New Zealand’s ban on gene technology outside the lab is a good move for the country, Federated Farmers say.
The Government announced in mid-August that it will introduce legislation to end the nearly 30-year ban, saying it would bring health, productivity and climate gains for Kiwis.
Wayne Langford, Federated Farmers national president, says the announcement is a positive step forward for New Zealand.
“We’ve been advocating for a national conversation about the use of technologies like gene editing for a long time now,” Langford says.
“The last time New Zealand took a serious look at the potential use of these technologies was in the early 2000s, but the science has continued to develop at breakneck speed since then.
“Our collective understanding of some of the big global challenges we’re all facing, like climate change and biodiversity loss, has also continued to quicky develop over that time.
“This announcement from the Government opens the door for us to consider all the potential benefits, weigh them up against risks, and decide how we want to move forward as a country.”
Supporting the better use of technologies was one of Federated Farmers’ 12 policy priorities for restoring farmer confidence in the lead-up to the 2023 General Election.
“Farmers are always looking for new technologies to help them improve their production, increase their profit, or reduce their environmental footprint,” Langford says.
“There are huge opportunities to help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, improve drought resilience, or increase our farm production using these technologies.”
He says there are also potential conservation benefits, like eradicating possums that are spreading disease and decimating our native forests, and benefits for healthcare.
“These aren’t just imaginary concepts – they’re real possibilities.
“Of course, there’ll always be risks and trade-offs that need to be carefully considered too, like how our international consumers would feel about such a change.”
Federated Farmers will be engaging in the Select Committee process on behalf of their members to ensure legislation is fit-for-purpose and adequately addresses any possible risks.
“The potential opportunities here are too great to just leave them sitting on the table without even taking a look at them,” Langford says.
“We would be doing ourselves a huge disservice as a country if we weren’t even prepared to have that conversation.”
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
