NEW SA Agriculture Minister Leon Bignell says maintaining the moratorium on growing GM food in the state would be worth more to its economy than to "let the genie out of the bottle" and allow it.
He said Australian and international markets were moving towards GM-free products, and if SA was to get premium prices for its grain and food, it was in its best interests to remain GM-free.
"Japan is already there, and a lot of European Union countries are going there," Mr Bignell said.
"I think we are heading towards where the market is, and once you let the genie out of the bottle, it's very hard to put it back in.
"It's a great promotional tool to say we're the only GM-free mainland state in Australia - it's a real selling point."
Mr Bignell said there were other ways to increase crop yields, such as through the government's New Horizons project that focused on improving the top 50 centimetres of soil to lift farm productivity and plant health, a step-up on previous research that focused on the top 10cm.
"There are three test sites across the state and they are talking about yield improvements of 20 per cent to 200pc, with an average of 70pc," he said.
"If we can pull that sort of stuff off, we would argue, why do we need GM?"
* Full report in Stock Journal, April 10, 2014 issue.
Malcolm Sutton
Stock Journal's news journalist and magazine editor.
Stock Journal's news journalist and magazine editor.
