They were brought up to speed with advances by experts at a forum hosted by the New Zealand Plant Breeding and Research Association (NZPBRA) in Christchurch this month.
Chief executive Sarah Clark said the forum updated members on gene technology use in plant breeding programmes in Australia, where legislation had been in place for 25 years.
She said plant breeders appreciated the timely insights on how gene technologies were being used in Australia and how they could benefit from being able to use them for plant breeding.
"For many people in the primary industries, the challenging question is what happens after the breeding; what plants might be grown in New Zealand, where and how do we get the benefit without forfeiting existing advantages, such as trading on our GMO-free status?"
She said Australian agriculture groups had come together to agree on the way forward.
A co-ordinated supply chain was developed based on market choice and conventional and organic crops co-existing with crops bred using gene technologies.
New Zealand’s Gene Technology Bill 2024 was developed largely on the Australian legislation and had its first reading in Parliament in December last year.
Australia was a step ahead bringing in legislation allowing genetic modification of plants in 2000.
Visiting Australian consultant David Hudson said more rapid progress had been made in the past few years to allow genetically modified and non-modified crops to co-exist in Australia.
He advised plant breeders to work towards a "permission to operate" footing by getting alignment from all stakeholders in the value chain, from researchers to breeders and growers through to consumers.
Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment science adviser Professor Emily Parker gave an outline of work being carried out towards developing a new regulatory regime within the gene technology Bill.
Public consultation on the Bill following its first reading closed in February and drew about 15,000 submissions. Parliament’s Health Select Committee was expected to report back in July, but this has been postponed until later this month.
Professor Parker expected the Bill would be re-introduced to the House before the end of this year.
Other experts made presentations on the latest breeding being carried out with conventional selection methods for pines, kiwifruit, apples, pears and forages and the opportunities to incorporate gene technologies in the future.
Conventional selection programmes can take up to 15 years and need large investment to produce a single new cultivar.
The NZPBRA represents plant breeders, intellectual property owners and managers of proprietary agricultural seed.
