Commercialization Strategies and Market Opportunities for GM Canola

Canola, the third most important edible oil crop in the world behind maize and palm, has had an almost unique history among those crops that have been targets of genetic modification. It was one of the earliest and most rapidly adopted GM crops; it has developed and tested market structures for three generations of technology (i.e. higher-yielding traits, quality-enhancing attributes and industrial uses); it emerged from a global research effort that was not driven from the US or EU; it has significant competition in the seed market, with five of the multinationals engaged in developing and marketing new varieties; it was one of the earliest crops to use an identity preserved production and marketing (IPPM) system to quality assure GM-free product; it has ongoing segregation programs to manage non-food varieties throughout Canada; it has developed a system to manage ongoing technology recalls and seed quality; and it has been the focus of litigation related to the conflict between patents and farmers’ rights and coexistence between organic and GM crops. In that sense, canola offers a number of lessons for other crop sectors considering if or how to manage the introduction of GM technology.