London Times / May 6 2000 BRITAIN / BY VALERIE ELLIOTT, COUNTRYSIDE EDITOR
ENGLAND's "green and pleasant land" is to be transformed into a sea of blue,
white and yellow in the fight against genetically modified food.
Lupins - a familiar adornment of cottage gardens - are to replace
traditional crops on many farms throughout the country to ensure a GM-free
food chain.
They will provide the protein for GM-free animal feed and could eventually
be used for flour in cakes, biscuits, bread and pizzas.
Already 150 farmers have signed up to trials of lupin as the feed of the
future and their fields will be in bloom in June and July. The potential
take-up could be huge.
Mark Blakeway, of Heathy Mill Farm, Kidderminster, is one of the lupin
pioneers and has planted 18 acres with white flowering seeds. He said: "I
like to be at the front of the queue and am the only farmer in
Worcestershire growing this crop. My neighbours are interested and are
keeping an eye on me. It could be the niche market we are all looking for.
It will also be a very pretty scene, a field of white flowers rolling down
to a fishing pond. Last year I tried to grow soya, but it was a disaster.
But this time I am confident it will take off."
Mr Blakeway added: "I will be able to guarantee GM-free produce with full
traceability. I will no longer have to buy imported soya." He hopes to use
lupins to provide the protein in feed for his pigs or he may sell the crop
to supply more farmers with lupin seeds.
However, members of the public should not attempt to feed their pets with
garden lupins. The garden varieties contain high levels of alkaloid and the
seeds are poisonous.
Lupins are grown commercially in Australia, South America, South Africa,
Eastern Europe and on the Continent. They were tried in Britain 15 years
ago, but failed because of the climate. Today, new varieties of farm lupins,
Lupinus albus for winter and Lupinus angustifolius for spring and summer,
are suitable for the British weather. They have been imported from Germany
by the Norfolk-based seed merchants, Gorham and Bateson, for trials.
Andrew Flux, the company's commercial manager, said that already 3,000 acres
of Britain were planted this summer, which would produce 5,000 tonnes of the
crop.
Mr Flux said: "There were problems before because the flowers grew up to 7ft
tall and needed lots of sun. The new varieties are dwarf in comparison and
will grow up to 3ft 5in tall."
Dairy farmers in Herefordshire were particularly interested in the crop to
provide feed for their herds, he said.
Britain imports two million tonnes of soya a year and it would need at least
a million acres of lupin fields for Britain to be self-sufficient.
Lupins are also being grown to test protein levels at the Institute of
Grassland and Environmental Research at Aberystwyth, Mid-Wales.
Rhun Fychan, a research scientist at the institute, said that he believed
the blue lupin had the most potential for the British climate.
"We have not yet found the ideal variety, but we are getting there," he
said. "British farmers will be able to be more dependent on their own
produce and will also be able to guarantee GM-free status."
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Footnote:
Soya is also being grown successfully in southern English counties to
provide a source of GM-free protein using a new variety suitable for
northern lattitude locations. The first demonstration areas of Northern Soya
variety 'Northern Conquest' (the first UK listed variety) are also being
arranged in France, Belgium and Holland with plans for commercial cropping
commencing in 2001.
Meanwhile in Manitoba, Canada, trials with an early clear Hilum variety for
the Japanese GM-free market have been very successful with the buyers being
very impressed by the produce.
The net effect of the US move to GM varieties is that they are no longer
able to service important overseas markets and the rest of the world is
adjusting its farming systems to supply those markets in their place.
Surprisingly the Americans - who have developed a reputation for lecturing
the rest of the world on market economics - have forgotten their own
busineess slogan: "The customer is always right". They are now paying the
price for ignoring the fundamentals of market economics.
(posted without permission)
