CropLinks Spring Edition 2016

T H E L AT E S T P L A N T S C I E N C E I N D U S T R Y N E W S

SPRING EDITION 2016

Helping farmers produce the key ingredients for your plum pudding Fruits and nuts are highly susceptible to a range of fungal diseases and insect pests, all of which are effectively and sustainably managed with crop protection products developed by Australia’s plant science industry.

The $4 billion worth of Australian fruits and nuts produced by Australian farmers annually couldn't be grown without the use of crop protection products.

Furthermore, $17.6 billion of all of Australia’s agricultural output can be attributed to the use of crop protection products.

What would the festive season plum pudding be without Australian vine fruit, apples, almonds and flour? You never have to imagine it because of Australia’s plant science industry and the great work of our farmers.

Inside this issue Farmer choice secured in WA

3

The price of innovation 6

representing the best of the plant science industry

Matthew Cossey Chief Executive Officer, CropLife Australia

From the Chief Executive Officer “When more than 600,000 children under the age of five are dying every year from Vitamin A deficiency and they are being denied access to genetically modified Golden Rice, biofortified with Vitamin A, there is a moral imperative for well-fed people in developed countries to really think about what they are signing when presented with the next activist anti-GM petition.”

Regulation, not science, has curtailed the benefits of 20 years’ experience growing GM crops in Australia.

Growing food in a sustainable way means adopting practices that produce more with less. Less land, less natural resources and fewer inputs. One of those practices adopted by farmers in Australia for more than 20 years now is the use of genetically modified (GM) crops.

Australian farmers have realised the environmental, agronomic and financial value of GM crops for more than two decades. It has seen the drastic improvement in the sustainable use of pesticides along with saving nearly 27 million litres of fuel use resulting in the reduction of 71.5 million kilograms of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.

Although farmers have experienced some of the direct benefits of GM crops first-hand, the full benefits to farmers, the environment and for consumers are being held back by excessive and unnecessary regulation.

Regulation that was generated in response to false and unfounded activist fear campaigns, not facts, science and rational thinking.

In 2008, the European Joint Research Centre ( JRC) surveyed the public and private sector plant biotechnology product pipelines. This resulted in a report that predicted the new traits that would come to market by 2015.

The unfortunate reality is that access to biotechnology innovation and the significant benefits it could have delivered as predicted

2

by the JRC in 2008 have not been fully realised due to unnecessary and costly government regulation as opposed to what should have been the largest challenge, scientific breakthrough. While the JRC predicted 91 new GM events on the market by 2015, we only saw 16. Most concerning is the growth we had expected to see in public sector-developed products has hardly materialised because bad regulation impedes public sector and funded research just as much, if not more, than the private sector research.

The reality is that it is not an issue of technology developers not being able to deliver on innovation, but that the regulatory system is failing to deliver the innovation to farmers and consumers.

Now the same activist and anti-science groups are seeking to demonise a range of safe, proven and highly valuable plant breeding innovations, often referred to as New Breeding Techniques (NBTs), that are the next natural evolution in plant breeding.

The future of agricultural biotechnology and other important plant science innovations is bright, but only if the science is allowed to prevail and public policy and regulation is based on facts not activist falsehoods and scaremongering. That will require real, genuine and committed political leadership both here in Australia and around the world.

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

Farmer choice secured in Western Australia

WA canola farmer Bindi Murray and her family are happy they have security in their choice to grow GM canola

A shining example to all other states with unnecessary moratoria on GM crops Farmers in Western Australia will now have guaranteed access to new approved cropping innovation and security in their choice to realise the clear financial, agronomic and environmental benefits from growing approved genetically modified (GM) crops thanks to the WA Government’s repeal of the unnecessary moratorium.

The Barnett Government should be commended for standing firm and delivering on its commitment to repeal the Genetically Modified Crops Free Areas Act 2003 in their efforts to secure farmer choice to access important agricultural

tools in the face of baseless and misleading scare campaigns.

WA growers now have the confidence that they will not lose access to the tools that are already crucial to farming in WA, which make them increasingly productive and sustainable, or be denied the future benefits that will come from all areas of scientific innovation.

Australia has the most robust safety assessments and regulations for all GM crops and stringent labelling requirements that ensure all consumers can have confidence in the quality and safety of their food. The repeal of the moratorium on GM crops doesn’t change that in any way — it simply removes what is widely recognised as unnecessary stifling of access to innovation.

Policies based on facts and science have never been more crucial given the ever-increasing demands on farming and the Government’s commitment to secure WA’s agricultural sector growth as an important component of the economy must be applauded.

Ultimately, farmers choose the technologies that enable them to farm productively and sustainably in response to the demands of the market, consumers choose what food they wish to eat and federal regulation ensures that crops are safe to farm.

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

3

Crop Protection

The price of innovation: R&D cost of crop protection increases to $286 million per product Every crop protection product that reaches the market costs US$286 million and takes 11 years of research and development to ensure the highest safety and efficacy standards, according to a new report recently published.

CropLife International, CropLife Australia’s international federation organisation, commissioned Phillips McDougall, an independent consultant specialising in market analysis for the agrochemical industry, to research the cost of bringing a new active ingredient to market.

10 LEADING

COMPANIES

INVEST

The report found the plant science industry spent a total of US$2.6 billion on new innovations in 2014. Innovation is at the core of the plant science industry but regulatory systems and red tape costs are a major factor in determining whether Australia’s and the world’s farmers get access to that innovation.

The report also found the cost of bringing a new product to market has increased by 55 percent compared to just 16 years ago. Much of the increase in cost can be attributed to a rise in the volume and complexity of environmental safety and toxicology data required by regulatory bodies to ensure products are safe.

4

Meanwhile, the time commitment to bring a product to market has increased from 8 years in 1995 to more than 11 years now, reflecting the rigorous research and development phase and delays in regulatory decisions.

innovations to help farmers in Australia and around the world to protect their crops from pests. Given the growing cost, the report demonstrates why we need predictable and risk-based regulations alongside robust intellectual property rights to give companies the confidence to continue to invest.

The crop protection industry continues to invest heavily in cutting edge

The agricultural chemical industry is founded in science, and as this report

demonstrates, it takes years and significant resources and scientific expertise to get even close to bringing one of our innovations to market.

Unnecessary red tape and an inefficient agricultural chemical regulator just further stifle and delay access to the innovation that our farming sectors desperately need to remain internationally competitive and become even more sustainable.

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

Thanks to farmers with the support of plant science innovations we enjoy chocolate this festive season If you like chocolate, you might be interested to know that if it weren’t for crop protection products, many pests and diseases would severely impact the commercial production of cocoa in West Africa.

West Africa produces about 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa.

Chocolate is delicious — thanks to the world’s farmers and the innovations of the plant science industry!

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

5

Crop Biotechnology

GM crops earn Australian farmers $1.37 billion in additional income during the last 20 years: State-based moratoria must go Australian farmers growing genetically modified (GM) crops for the last 20 years have realised significant economic and environmental benefits according to an independent report by Graham Brookes of UK-based PG Economics.

The Adoption and Impact of Genetically Modified (GM) Crops in Australia: 20 Years’ Experience report provides insights into the reasons why many farmers in Australia have adopted and continue to increasingly use crop biotechnology since becoming commercially available 20 years ago. The 20 years of success of GM crop cultivation in Australia is also confirmation that time is up for antiquated and entirely unnecessary state-based moratoria on GM crops.

Australian farmers have always embraced innovation in agriculture and the rapid adoption of GM crops is evidence of farmers seeing the clear financial, agronomic and environmental benefits modern crop breeding innovation provides.

It is also evident that state-based moratoria on GM crop cultivation

6

serve no purpose other than to stifle innovation. GM cotton is credited as being the saviour of Australia’s cotton industry with Australian farmers among the first in the world to plant GM cotton seeds in 1996. Recent reports of first time dryland cotton growers lining up in droves to join the fibre crop’s rebounding fortunes with double the total planting this year than previously, is evidence of this. Herbicide tolerant canola has been successfully grown in Australia since 2008 with 23 per cent of the nation’s canola growers choosing GM crops.

Many more farmers choose to grow GM canola as a rotation crop to help manage weeds in other crops, such as wheat and barley.

The report shows that since 1996 Australian cotton and canola farmers have gained $1.37 billion worth of extra

income and produced an additional 226,000 tonnes of canola that would otherwise not have been grown if conventional crops had been used.

The cultivation of GM crops has led to more sustainable use of crop protection products with a reduction of 22 million kilograms of product used. The environmental benefits from the adoption of GM crops by farmers has also resulted in a saving of nearly 27 million litres of fuel use and 71.5 million kilograms less carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in 2014 alone.

In the face of these numerous benefits of GM crops and the real-world experience of 20 years of GM crop cultivation in Australia, state-based moratoria just doesn’t make sense.

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

New techniques: Next natural evolution in seed breeding Understanding the science gives you confidence in the science. As per usual, however, activists seek to instil fear and mislead on what are exciting next steps in plant breeding.

Plant breeding is a product-oriented, science-based discipline for improving plants. Plant breeding innovation enables farmers to improve their productivity, and supports more profitable and sustainable agriculture.

Although the methods may have changed, plant breeding innovations are based on the same basic breeding principles farmers and plant scientists have used for thousands of years: planting seeds, observing the characteristics and selecting the most desirable.

HOW CRISPR-CAS9 WORKS

Until a few years ago, altering an organism’s genome was a cumbersome process, usually involving insertion of long strands of DNA or entire genes. Now scientists can cut and paste precise units of the genome.

Researcher identifies a specific sequence of DNA to modify.

Targeted DNA sequence

Researcher engineers a guide RNA to match the targeted DNA sequence. Guide RNA is attached to a DNA-cutting enzyme, Cas9.

Guide RNA finds targeted DNA sequence on the genome. Cas9 cuts the DNA strand at the target, preparing it for repair or replacement.

DNA repairs itself.

The engineered sequence of DNA can be inserted into the gene to further modify it.

Crispr Cas9 RNA seeks target DNA Cas9 cuts the DNA

The latest plant breeding innovations, such as gene editing using Crispr-Cas9, or gene silencing using RNAi build on a strong history of innovation by plant breeders, and are essential to addressing the challenges faced by Australian farmers in a productive and sustainable manner.

Unfortunately, new activist campaigns seek to instil fear and mislead consumers

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

in regards to innovation in plant breeding. CropLife Australia’s view is that plant varieties produced through the latest breeding methods, which are indistinguishable or similar to plants developed through earlier breeding methods, should be regulated in the same way in Australia as conventionally bred plants.

7

Industry Stewardship

Protecting the lifecycle of crucial agricultural products: the 2016 Resistance Management Strategies available online It is vital that farmers, environmental land managers and other agricultural chemical users adopt up-to-date best-practice advice on managing crop protection product resistance.

CropLife Australia’s 2016 Resistance Management Strategies for fungicides, herbicides and insecticides are available online to help farmers sustainably control the pests, weeds and disease that are a constant threat to our nation’s food, feed and fibre, production while protecting the lifecycle of crucial agricultural products.

Access to the most up-to-date and accurate advice on how to use crop protection products responsibly and sustainably is crucial for farmers.

Available online using CropLife’s search tool, farmers can quickly search and locate the relevant world’s best-practice strategies to provide crucial and timely advice on sustainably managing pests, weeds and disease in crops.

Resistance to crop protection products in agriculture is comparable to disease resistance to antibiotics in medicine.

Ensuring availability of best-practice

8

resistance management advice is just another example of CropLife Australia and its members' genuine commitments to world-leading industry stewardship initiatives to ensure the ongoing sustainability of crucial crop protection products and Australia’s agriculture industry.

International stewardship award for Agsafe and Dow AgrowSciences

Each year CropLife makes available Resistance Management Strategies developed by scientific technical review committees made up of CropLife’s members with expert knowledge on the use of fungicides, herbicides and insecticides.

Agsafe and Dow AgroSciences' new Manufacturers and Suppliers Course was recently recognised as Best Stewardship Programme at the International Agrow Awards.

These strategies will help ensure important agricultural chemicals that help farmers produce the food, feed and fibre needed for the world’s growing population, are managed in a sustainable and safe way.

CropLife’s easy-to-access strategies equip farmers with methods to ensure they maintain the effectiveness and extend the life of crucial farming tools. Following CropLife’s Resistance Management Strategies can help farmers prevent loss of future crops, income, and damage to their land.

The 2016 Resistance Management Strategies are available at the CropLife Australia website www.croplife.org.au

Agsafe worked in partnership with Dow AgrowSciences to create the course to meet the specific training needs of manufacturer and supplier personnel.

The course covers the work, health and safety requirements of the products sold by their organisations as well as workplace hazards, risk assessment and controls, emergency response, labels and safety data sheets.

For more information about upcoming Agsafe courses visit www.agsafe.com.au

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

#FOODHEROES — recognising the unsung heroes who feed and nourish the world Stop and think for a moment: what was the last thing you ate? Do you know where that food came from or the journey it took to get to you? Most people imagine that food is simple to grow, but they do not consider the number of threats that crops face — from pests to plant diseases to harsh weather — that can turn a good harvest into a dismal one.

The Food Heroes campaign, recently launched by CropLife International, not only celebrates the farmers that grow our food, but also the plant scientists that help farmers protect their crops from pests and disease and develop improved seed varieties, with enhanced nutrient content or the ability to withstand extreme weather conditions.

their stories about growing crops, as well as their constant need for innovative agricultural tools, and plant scientists share their efforts and research to keep farmers several steps ahead of weather, pests and viruses.

"It can be easy to not think about the farmers and plant scientists who work diligently each day to maintain our food supply," said CropLife International's President and CEO Howard Minigh at the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa.

"As we remember the pioneering work of Dr. Norman Borlaug in leading the Green Revolution, we have launched a campaign to thank today's farmers and plant scientists who work tirelessly to make nutritious food available every day."

"It's exciting to see how far science has come, and the improved tools and techniques today's plant scientists can use to help farmers face some of agriculture's worst and devastating challenges," said Julie Borlaug, associate director of Texas A&M University's Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture. "Most people don't understand why modern agriculture, science and innovation are important to humanity's future. This Food Heroes campaign is so vital to making audiences understand the constant need for innovation to protect our food supply."

The Food Heroes campaign tells the story of crops from around the world and some of the challenges they face from seed to harvest. Farmers share

Read about today's Food Heroes at www.food-heroes.org and join the #FoodHeroes conversation on social media.

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

Giorgos Papavasilis, Olive farmer in Greece

9

News and Events

Since commissioning its manufacturing facility at Lara in Victoria last year, Accensi has successfully completed its first full year of operation. Paul Barber, Accensi Chief Executive Officer said, “A generally positive cropping season, together with strong support from our customers has enabled us to exceed the targets we originally set for the business”. The facility at Lara has now positioned Accensi as the largest independent crop protection manufacturing business in Australia, including sites in Queensland and WA. BASF is making an investment of around A$1 million to expand its Somersby, NSW, plant.

The existing plant, which specialises in the production of biological crop protection products, will produce BASF's Velifer® insecticide. The expansions will commence in the fourth quarter of 2016, with production coming on line in 2017, and will create up to six new positions in technical production.

The investment demonstrates BASF's commitment to delivering the latest innovations in crop protection solutions to customers in Australia with 25 new products in the pipeline for release in Australia over the next five years.

Bayer will be the main sponsor for the 2017 Youth AG-Summit in Brussels, Belgium, from October 9 to 13, 2017.Approximately 100 young delegates from around the world will share ideas, develop solutions and engage in an open discussion on one of the world’s most challenging questions: How do we feed a hungry planet sustainably? Bayer together with two Belgian young farmers associations, Groene Kring and Fédération des Jeunes Agriculteurs, are inviting young thought leaders from around the world to apply to attend the third Global Youth Agriculture Summit. Find out more at www.ag-education.bayer.com Dow AgroSciences has been awarded its fifth US Environmental Protection Agency Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for eNtrench™ nitrogen stabiliser. The prestigious awards promote the environmental and economic benefits of developing and using novel green chemistry. They also recognise chemical technologies incorporating the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use. Nitrogen fertiliser is essential for crop production yet can leach into groundwater and away from where it is needed for crop growth. eNtrench helps prevent nitrogen loss and improves crop growth.

10

Matthew Arblaster, Nufarm Raymond Road Site Manager Nufarm has recently achieved two major milestones at its Raymond Road, Laverton, Victoria manufacturing facility. The facility has reached 1,200 days worked without a lost-time injury and completed a total reconfiguration of its operations. Lachie McKinnon, Regional General Manager for Nufarm’s ANZ region said, “what the Raymond Road facility has achieved is tremendous. We now have an industry leading insecticide and fungicide manufacturing facility with a safety record and culture to match”.

Fifty-seven agribusiness professionals across Australia and New Zealand have been named nominees for the 2016 Syngenta Growth Awards. The awards aim to recognise leading agriculture professionals, highlighting their outstanding contributions to the industry across three award categories: Productivity, Sustainability, and Community and People. Regional winners will be chosen based on rigorous selection criteria for each category, and announced in early November. Find out more at: www.syngenta.com.au/growth-awards In a cooperative project with Griffith University, AgNova has proudly launched a world-first biological lure and trapping system that targets egg-laying female fruit flies. Called Fruition®, the system is an extremely versatile tool with application in horticultural and quarantine situations wherever fruit flies are found. Fruition is Australian made, and comprises a unique lure to attract fruit fly plus a sticky trap to keep them captive. Fruition can be used for population monitoring or control as part of an Integrated Pest Management program. ® Fruition is a registered trademark of AgNova Technologies Pty Ltd

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

End of an era From 2006 to 2016 Mr Lachlan McKinnon has represented the plant science industry as the President and a Director of the CropLife Australia Board and his resignation from the Board as he moves to Canada in his new role as Country Manager Canada, Business Development North America for Nufarm is certainly an end of an impressive era.

With 32 years’ experience in the plant science industry, at both national and international levels, Lachie has provided a level of service to both CropLife and the industry that is second to none. Throughout Lachie’s presidency, he has lead CropLife’s advocacy on a number of significant issues, and provided stable and distinguished leadership.

His efforts as Chair of CropLife’s former Best Practice Regulatory Framework Project Group and Vice Chair of CropLife’s former Data Protection Project Group have been vital to the success of the plant science industry in Australia. CropLife Australia wish him the very best in his new role.

Mr Lachlan McKinnon speaking at the CropLife Australia 2015 National Members’ Forum , Canberra — 12 November 2015.

CropLife Australia 2006 Perspectives Conference, Melbourne — 28 November 2006 (L-R): Mr Dean Corbett, Accensi, Mr James Barkhouse, Syngenta Crop Protection, Mr Lachlan McKinnon, Nufarm, Mr Nigel Crawley, Rimfire Resources.

CROPLINKS THE NEWSLETTER OF CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA | SPRING 2016

11

CropLife Australia is the peak organisation representing the best of Australia’s plant science and crop protection product companies.

CropLife ensures world’s best stewardship and responsible use of the industry’s products through its conduct of conduct and has set a benchmark for industry stewardship through initiatives in the StewardshipFirst™ program such as drumMUSTER, ChemClear, Agsafe Accrediation and Training and the Pollinator Protection Initiative.

That is why you can have full confidence when dealing with a CropLife member company.

CropLife represents Australia’s leading innovators, developers, manufacturers, formulators and registrants of crop protection and agricultural biotechnology products.

CropLife Australia is part of the CropLife International Federation, representing the plant science sector in 91 countries around the world.

LAB EL SPEC IALISTS

CROPLIFE AUSTRALIA LIMITED t 02 6273 2733 w www.croplife.org.au

www.facebook.com/CropLifeOZ

www.twitter.com/CropLifeOZ