DEPENDING on your point of view, it鈥檚 either a neat ruse to help keep genetically modified crops out of Europe, or an unfair barrier to farmers who want to benefit from GM technology.
Denmark last week became the first country in Europe to tax farmers who grow GM crops. The money collected, around 鈧�13 per hectare, will be used to compensate organic or conventional farmers who can鈥檛 sell produce at its usual price because of contamination from a GM farm nearby. Crops with a GM content above 0.9 per cent cannot be labelled GM free.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 good is that the GM farmers are paying, otherwise they鈥檇 have no incentive to prevent contamination happening,鈥� says Gundula Azeez of the Soil Association, which represents organic farmers in the UK. 鈥淚t鈥檚 based on the polluter-pays principle.鈥� The biotech industry, meanwhile, regards the tax as arbitrary and unfair.
Advertisement
The European Commission authorised the scheme on 23 November, and other countries are considering similar measures. Don鈥檛 expect the Danish fund to be bursting with cash though: like all European countries except Spain, it has no GM farmers yet.
