5. Market Reaction to Honey from Countries where GM Crops are Grown
New Zealand beekeepers have expressed concern about the loss of markets for bee products should GM crops be grown in New Zealand and at the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification they called for a moratorium on field releases of GM plants (Anon R, 2001).
Food labelling laws and food standards define acceptable levels of GM material in honey and other bee products intended as food. These levels vary between 1 and 5% from country to country and the organic market apparently requires a complete absence of GM material (see Section 3 for details). Bee products able to comply with these standards should have full access to these markets.
However, consumers will be influenced not only by the legal label but also by other factors that affect their perceptions of a product, such as the country of origin. For example, customers may not be entirely satisfied by the GM food labels in their country and may choose to buy produce from countries known not to grow GM crops. It is not certain how important consumer perceptions of the "GM status" of the country of origin will be in the marketing of bee products, but the experiences of honey producers from countries where GM crops are grown may be instructive.
5.1 Market Reaction to Honey from Canada
GM herbicide-tolerant canola (oilseed rape) has been grown extensively for many years in Canada and at present at least 70% of Canada's canola is GM (H. Clay, pers. comm.). Canola represents a very significant nectar source for Canadian honey producers.
In 1999 Canadian honey met some market resistance in Germany because of unconfirmed reports of traces of GM material in a honey sample. Because GM canola is so widely grown and Canada does not require GM food labelling (see Section 3.1 above), Canadian producers could not guarantee that their export product was free of GM canola pollen, even though the Canadian Honey Council pointed out that filtering removed all but 0.1% (w:w) pollen from honey. In their 1998/99 report on the Canadian Honey Situation and Trends, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada reported that "issues over GMO were a concern for many honey producers who were exporting to certain markets" (Parent and Pearen, 1999). This event was extensively reported and is still quoted in popular articles on GM foods (e.g. Anon P, 2001; Munro, 2002). Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's most recent advice to Canadian farmers wishing to export to the European Union notes that many Canadian GM varieties of canola are not registered in the EU and so Canadian canola seed cannot be accepted there unless it can be guaranteed GM-free (Anon S, undated). These guidelines mention Germany as an export destination for honey but do not mention any requirement for GM labelling. Heather Clay, of the Canadian Honey Council, states that there was "a temporary drop in sales of Canadian honey to Germany, but the market has since recovered" and that "the large exporters report that it is business as usual in Europe" (H. Clay, pers. comm., 3 June 2002).
5.2 Market Reaction to Honey from Argentina, the United States and Australia.
Argentina is one of the world's biggest exporters of honey (70,363 tonnes in 1997) (Parent and Pearen, 1999; Anon T, 1998). It is also one of the top growers of GM crops, although these are principally soyabeans and maize and not honey-yielding plants (James, 2000; B. Achaval, pers. comm.). Perhaps for this reason there have been no reports of difficulties with exports of honey from Argentina, even to Germany which is its largest export market (Anon T, 1998; B. Achaval, pers. comm.).
In the United States honey is produced primarily for the domestic market; in 1997 it exported only 3,296 tonnes of honey (in comparison, Canada exported 7,407 tonnes in the same year, mostly to the United States and Germany) (Anon T, 1998). Germany, Japan and Yemen are its major markets and there have been no reports of difficulties with these in connection with the GM crops grown extensively in the United States, which include the honey-producing plants, canola and cotton.
GM cotton grown in Australia (150,000 hectares planted in 2000; James, 2000) has apparently not yet posed problems for Australian honey producers (S. Ware; H. Lamb, pers. comm.). GM canola has not yet been released commercially in Australia. Interestingly, the state government of New South Wales, a key canola-producing region, has recently announced plans to introduce legislation which will rule out the establishment of GM-free planting zones (New Zealand Herald, 21 June 2002).
Contact for Enquiries
Dr Sharon Adamson
Manager,
Innovation Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0618
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0741
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