As part of his election campaigning, the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was recently in Darwin and Kununurra revealing plans for an expansion of the Ord River scheme including into the Northern Territory. But there was no mention of a major obstacle to making such a plan viable, in particular the removal of absurd anti-cotton and anti-GM legislation. 
While GM cotton is the one crop that can make large irrigation schemes in northern Australia viable, the Northern Territory banned the growing of cotton in 2003 and the Western Australian Government declared the whole state a GM-free zone in 2004. These two pieces of legislation make the cultivation of cotton an uncertain proposition in northern Australia. [Read more…] about Northern Australian Agriculture Will Need GM Cotton
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.