AGRICULTURE: COMPENSATION FOR GMO-CONTAMINATED RAPESEED.

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Farmers were expecting to be deprived of the premium for destroyed plots owing to the stringent criteria applied for granting direct aid for arable crops (quality of the crops, observance of pre-harvesting periods, for example). Although France and Sweden are the sole countries to have ordered the contaminated crops to be destroyed, the decision will apply across the board: It will "apply to all Member States in the event of similar discoveries in the future", a European Commission spokesman said on 9 June. The Commission has yet to complete the written procedure for the formal adoption of the decision.--The British subsidiary of the Dutch seed company Advanta Seeds anannounced on 18 May that it had been selling rapeseed from Canada that had been inadvertently contaminated (as much as 1%) in five EU countries (France, Sweden, Germany, the UK and Luxembourg). Since then, France and Sweden have ordered the grubbing up of all rapeseed plants affected, whilst Germany and the UK have recommended a standstill. Advanta gave an undertaking on 2 June to compensate British and French farmers who agreed to destroy contaminated rapeseed plants. The farmers' compensation issue may also turn into a debate about...

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