The South Australian Upper House has disallowed the South Australian Government’s decision to lift the moratorium on growing GM crops on mainland South Australia for the third time. This follows the first disallowance of the government decision in November 2019 (see AgbioNews Nov 28, 2019) and the voting down of a repeal Bill in December 2019.

The removal of this moratorium was initially proposed in August (AgbioNews Aug 20, 2019) following an independent review undertaken in 2018 where it was estimated that the moratorium has cost South Australian grain farmers at least AUS$33 million since the 2004 enactment. The moratorium, Genetically Modified Crops Management Act 2004, and its associated regulations were enacted in 2004 to prohibit the cultivation of GM food crops in the whole of South Australia.