The area of Genetically Modified crops grown across Europe outside the UK is increasing as attitudes towards the technology change, Monsanto’s Robert Plaice said.

“The UK is GM-free, but Europe isn’t. We could see a big ramping up of GM in Europe over the next few years.”

The total European GM area was around 110,000ha last year, with France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic leading the way, he said. The area in France was expected to double during 2008 from 21,686ha in 2007, provided the current moratorium on planting biotech crops was lifted this spring, he noted.

But Mr Plaice acknowledged there were still some questions to be answered around cross-pollination and gene transfer, particularly in oilseed rape. “There is a theoretical risk there, so it has to be looked at closely before being adopted across Europe. We don’t think it will be a problem if the coexistence policy is right – it hasn’t been an issue in Canada where it’s [GM canola] been grown for 10 years.”