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Potato coexistence |
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Project Title:
Enhancing management practises to maintain the sustainability of current potato systems
Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries - Research Stimulus Fund
Project duration:
December 2007- March 2011
Project participants:
- Teagasc Oak Park
- Maynooth NUI
- University College Dublin
- Teagasc Rural Economy Research Centre
Project objectives:
- Quantify the propensity for pollen-mediated gene flow between potato crops, including the role played by insect pollinators, with the goal of identifying production practises to maintain the genetic integrity of conventional and organic potato crops in co-existence scenarios.
- Evaluate the consequence of pollen and seed-mediated gene flow for co-existence by monitoring volunteer emergence and persistence through rotational practises.
- Determine the frequency of the horizontal transfer of genetic material from potato into associated pathogenic microbes of potato and evaluate its potential environmental and agronomic impact
- Conduct a whole chain analysis to identify ‘weak points’ in existing production systems that could serve to challenge effective co-existence.
- Construct a model to determine the costs and benefits of GM technology adoption for ‘early adopters’ and conventional producers under existing management practises.
- Construct a model to incorporate alternative management scenarios (from Task 1, sub-project 01), in an attempt to identify the most viable management scenario for use as a co-existence standard operating procedure.
- Determination of the national costs and benefits accruing to adopting farmers and conventional and organic producers (accruing IP costs) given alternative adoption rates
- Determine the factors that influence farmer’s attitudes towards GM technology adoption.
Research abstract:
Two hundred and fifty six notifications have been made for the trialling of GM potato in Europe (http://biotech.jrc.it), with one 4 year license granted for cultivation in Ireland. This has raised sector concern over how the sustainability of non-GM potato systems can be preserved in compliance with EU regulations (‘co-existence’).
The National Co-existence Strategy stipulates that “research must be undertaken to ascertain the appropriate management regime for the cultivation of GM potato under Irish agro-ecological conditions”. The objective of this project is to identify production practises that are agronomically sustainable and economically viable.
The project does not require the field cultivation of GM potato. Rather molecular biology-based tools will be employed to model gene flow from conventional potato crops. An economic analysis will also be completed to compare the costs of co-existence against the potential benefits of GM potato cultivation.
Hence, the goals of this project are:
- Field proof the co-existence guidelines for the cultivation of GM potato.
- Conduct a whole chain analysis to identify co-existence ‘weak points’.
- Evaluate the economic implications of introducing a co-existence regime.
- Determine the potential of horizontal gene transfer from potato to associated pathogens.
Results:
Upon completion of this project, all datasets will be collated and the research findings submitted for publication in peer reviewed scientific journals. Once the scientific merit of the results has been validated, they will be available for your information on gmoInfo.
Funding:
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