GROWERS turned out in force to witness Genetically Modified (GM) canola growing on John Snooke's Meckering farm last week, and were impressed by what they saw.
About 225 inquisitive farmers, agronomists, and other industry members took a walk through Mr Snooke's patchy, but flowering GM crop, where they gained a visual and sensory perspective on the new canola variety's performance.
Mr Snooke is growing a 34 hectares GM canola crop this season and will sell it for export after harvest.
He is one of the participants in the large scale GM trials being held on 17 farms and two Agriculture and Food Department research stations, across about 850ha of the WA wheatbelt.
Last week's GM showcase was hosted by global biotechnology company Monsanto.
It included educational talks at the Cunderdin Telecentre from CBH, scientists and agronomists, covering the central issues concerning GM application and production techniques.
A Monsanto spokesperson said about 85pc of the 225 attendees were growers.
A similar field day was also held in Mt Barker last week and at Esperance on Tuesday.
Another forum is scheduled for Geraldton this Friday, which is expected to take the total number of participants to about 500.
Despite the high level of activism attached to GM technology, Agricultural Region MLC Jim Chown was the lone political figure at last week's Cunderdin event.
During the field walk, curious farmers aimed a number of pointed questions at Mr Snooke and two of his farming neighbours, Norm Jenzen and David Fulwood, who are also participating in the large scale commercial GM canola trials.
Growers walked through the technology and asked their fellow growers questions about the crop's performance and its different potential applications.
Field walks were also held through a smaller 1.5ha trial hosted at the Meckering site, by Nufarm.
The four GM canola trial seed suppliers, Canola Breeders WA (CBWA), Nuseed, Pacific Seeds and Pioneer, also had a strong presence on the day.
CBWA research director Wallace Cowling said the Cunderdin field day produced a positive result for the grains industry, and showed that GM canola was working better than most farmers expected.
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