THE Mount Barker District Council is the first on South Australia's mainland to signal its intent to remain a genetically-modified free region.
Earlier this year, the state government reached an agreement to lift the GM moratorium on SA's mainland, which included an amendment to give SA's 68 local governments six months to decide whether to apply for the moratorium to continue in their council areas.
Councils across the state have been busy consulting their communities on the desire for a GM ban to remain and have to prove an economic reason for maintaining a moratorium if they wish to do so.
Over a four-week consultation period, Mount Barker's council received 143 submissions on the matter, with 87 per cent wanting the council to apply to keep the district free of GM crops.
The council area in question encompasses Kanmantoo and part of Callington to the east, Harrogate and Mount Torrens districts to the north, Meadows and Prospect Hill to the south and Mylor to the west.
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MBDC Strategic Planning and Economic Development manager Greg Sarre said the weight of submissions in support of that position was the primary reason the council decided to lodge an application to the Primary Industries Minister.
"A number of those had good arguments and there were also some good counter-arguments but basically it came down to the weight of the submissions," he said.
Mr Sarre said the majority of submissions were community-based submissions, not from the primary industries sector, but even so the majority of primary producer submissions were also supportive of an application to remain GM-free.
The council will discuss the possibility of making a regional GM-free application with its neighbouring councils, but Mr Sarre said they would lodge an application regardless of neighbouring support.
"Part of the recommendation was that council delegate to the chief executive officer to negotiate with neighbouring councils," he said.
"As each council deliberates on this, if any decide they'd also like to make an application then we'd talk to those about the potential for a regional application.
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"We will talk to our neighbours and the Local Government Association for the next two to three weeks and see if a regional application is viable.
"If it is we'll pursue that. If not we'll make an application just from our council."
Councils have until September 30 to decide whether to lodge an application, but the ultimate decision on any GM-free zones still remains with Primary Industries Minister David Basham.
A number of councils have already opted against making an application, with Mid Murray Council the latest to show their support for lifting the GM moratorium.
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