Professor Jimmy Burke, who is head of the Crops Research Centre at Oak Park, claimed that the Government`s stance on GM crop varieties was undermining the viability of whole sectors within Irish agriculture.

"This policy is anti-competitive and doomed to failure. Only sourcing non-GM material is an unrealistic approach and we need to sit up and take notice of this," Professor Burke insisted.

He maintained that Ireland`s decision to abstain earlier this year in a key vote at EU level on the maize variety, Herculex, had serious implications.

As Herculex had failed to secure EU approval, European feed importers had been forced to pay inflated prices for scarce supplies of non-GM material.

The Teagasc specialist said the implications for the pig and poultry sectors were particularly serious, since half the protein requirement for both industries was sourced in the US.

"If we are saying we don`t want GM material, then this is a serious issue because, in the not too distant future, people won`t be able to get non-GM feed stocks," he said.

He also questioned the assertion that consumers were willing to pay a premium for the meat from animals which had been fed non-GM feed.

He pointed out that studies carried out in a number of countries had found that supermarkets were not willing to pass on to consumers the additional feed costs associated with using non-GM material.

Meanwhile, feed importers now fear that shipments of corn gluten and corn distillers will be disrupted again this autumn, because the US maize crop, which is due to be harvested in a month`s time, includes another GM variety which has not been approved in Europe.

The variety, which is called Agrisure, makes up just 1-2pc of total plantings. However, importers are unwilling to bring in shipments of the new crop in case traces of this particular variety are found in the shipments.

Since Agrisure is not approved in the EU, any consignments in which it is identified would have to be destroyed or shipped back to the port of origin or to a third country.

Matt Brazil of feed importers, Halls, said that, as a consequence, most importers would not be willing to take a chance on a shipment of new crop maize from the US.

He said this would create further upward pressure on feed prices.

Meanwhile, Mr Brazil said farmers will face massive increases in feed costs this winter. He pointed out that the main constituents in compound feeds had doubled in price since this time last year.

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