Internationally recognised expert on herbicide resistance in crops and weeds, Professor Stephen Powles, Director of the WA Herbicide Resistance Initiative (WAHRI) at The University of Western Australia (UWA) and WAHRI researcher, Dr Roberto Busi, will drive the WA component of the five-year national project.

Professor Powles said the GRDC project, which started in eastern Australia in 2008, will begin in WA this year and would address concerns expressed by some about the potential for gene flow from GM Canola to nearby canola crops.

While gene flow studies have already been completed in imidazolinone tolerant or Clearfield canola, the commercial release of GM RR canola allows the field studies on pollen flow and impacts on weed populations to be completed in a GM situation.

"Although the Australian Gene Technology Regulator has approved RR canola as safe to humans and the environment, the first field trials of RR canola in WA in 2009 offer a welcome opportunity to more fully understand how GM canola can best be used in WA cropping and to address any lingering community concerns," he said.

Professor Powles said that while canola was mostly a self-pollinated crop, cross pollination via insects and/or wind could occur.

"This new three-state, GRDC-supported project will fully investigate the potential for gene flow in RR canola and other questions on GM canola," Professor Powles said.

The GRDC project is led by Chief Investigators, Professor Rick Roush, The University of Melbourne, Professor Powles, UWA and Associate Professor Chris Preston, The University of Adelaide.

RR canola has been successfully commercially grown in Canada, USA and Argentina for more than a decade, but only commenced in Australia in 2008 in NSW and Victoria, where at least 100,000 hectares of RR canola is likely to be grown this year.