DONNA WALSH/Fairfax NZ

NEW GENES: Monsanto says orchard owners like Cambridge couple Mark and Robyn Gardiner, whose kiwifruit were struck by Psa in 2010, could be helped by the introduction of GE crops.

A kiwifruit industry crippled by Psa disease is ripe for introducing genetic modification, says a visiting American biotechnology advocate.

It's estimated Psa disease will damage the kiwifruit industry to the tune of $310-$410 million over the next five years.

So a genetically-engineered solution to the disease could have significant economic benefits, said Robert Reiter, vice-president of American agrochemical giant Monsanto.

New Zealand's not a large market for any given crop. But kiwifruit might be something because there's a market in multiple places beyond New Zealand," Robert Reiter told the Star-Times.

Monsanto is regarded by detractors as a global peddler of destruction, creating foods that threaten the health of both people and the planet. Its supporters see its innovation as the world's best hope of tackling a global food crisis.

With the world's population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, and with about 40 per cent of the earth's land used for agriculture, corporations like Monsanto tout biotechnology as the best way to develop crops that are resistant to pests, drought and weeds.

Reiter said although New Zealand didn't yet need GM crops like soy and wheat, it could use the technology.

''It's giving growers a choice of different chemistries."

Read more:
Monsanto wants the GE genie out of the bottle

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