THE Berri Barmera Council is preparing to undergo public consultation to decide whether the council should apply to remain free of genetically-modified (GM) crops.
The State Government decided to lift a statewide moratorium on GM crops in April, but is giving councils six months to make an application to remain a non-GM crop area.
Berri Barmera CEO Karyn Burton said it was important that the decision was made with the community’s opinions in mind.
“We think it is important that we take this matter to the community and get the views of the community, because in six months’ time when we have to decide whether we lift the moratorium, and there is no way of reversing the decision,” she said.
“So, we need to act fairly quickly on that and get the community’s feedback on whether we want GM cropping or not.”
As the legislation currently stands, there will be no further opportunities for councils to apply to be designated as a non-GM crop area after November 15, 2020.
Ms Burton said the three Riverland councils had shown interest in working together to develop a region-wide approach.
“The three councils want to make the decision consistent across the region, though it is unclear how that will work yet due to the variance in crop types between the three councils,” she added.