A YEAR ago veteran crop researcher Harm van Rees would have laughed if asked if Australia would ban the use of the herbicide glyphosate.
Now, after conducting a study tour across the globe speaking with farmers about their pesticide practices he said the prospect was not as far-fetched as it seemed 12 months ago.
"Public awareness and concerns relating to farm pesticide use is increasing and we can't ignore the possibility of it happening here," Dr van Rees said at last week's Grains Research and Development Corporation update in Adelaide.
And while the public focus has mostly been on harsh restrictions on usage in Europe, Dr van Rees said rule makers in the developing world were also moving to tighten regulations regarding the controversial herbicide.
"We had the ill-fated attempt at going organic in Sri Lanka, Vietnam is still pushing ahead with its glyphosate ban and during my study trip in Argentina I heard of local moves to tighten herbicide use," he said.
"In Argentina, some country town councils, such as Pergamino, a medium-sized town I visited, are banning the use of all agri-chemicals, including fertiliser for a 1000 metre zone around the towns' perimeter."
"Farmers do not receive any compensation for the loss in the production."
He said it was hard to understand the rationale for nations such as Vietnam to ban the use of such an effective herbicide.
"It is all well and good in Europe where they can afford to buy whatever the going rate is for staples, but in a place such as Vietnam it could have a major impact on food security."
However, he said while Australian farmers could argue the science they would be faced with market access difficulties into countries with strong opposition to glyphosate.
"The farmers in those countries won't just let imports from a country with access to chemistry they don't."
Dr van Rees said the agriculture sector was faced with some thorny decisions around both global food production and the environment in regards to looking at a world without what is currently its most important herbicide.
"Without glyphosate there is no existing answer to how we are going to feed the eight billion and growing world population."
"There are also the environmental benefits of the product, such as conserving water, retaining stubble, reducing wind and water erosion which all improve soil health and are achievable using glyphosate."
"These gains were alll made possible through the use of glyphosate."
Dr van Rees also commented on glyphosate's image problem with the public, saying that it had better environmental credentials than other products but received far more negative press.
"There are no direct replacements for glyphosate and any alterations of spraying programs to do the same job glyphosate does would likely see a lift in overall pesticide use but glyphosate remains the major focus for those looking at tighter restrictions."
He said the ag sector was investigating possible alternatives in terms of both conventional and organic weed control.
"In Europe I looked at a product that was marketed as organic Roundup (the trade name for glyphosate), which is based on pelargonic acid, which is basically vinegar."
"I did some pot trials with it versus the conventional product and unfortunately it was far less effective."
Other cutting edge technologies being investigated included electric laser weeding, robot weeding and spot spraying.
"Some of the work with the weeders is incredible with accuracy down to a centimetre, the in-row soil disturbance marks where the seed is and weeds around it, but these are very much developing sciences and would be difficult to replicate, especially on large scale Australian properties."
He said the Europeans were also excited about cover crops as a means of weed suppression but cautioned that in an Australian context this may be difficult to replicate given the water and nutritional needs, especially in our Mediterranean climate zones with dry summers.
On the chemical front Dr van Rees said there were a number of products that could be tested to be used as part of a system that could replace glyphosate but no direct replacement for the chemical.
Further complicating matters he said some of chemicals, such as paraquat, were already banned in places such as Europe.
"These chemicals do not act as a 'knockdown' like glyphosate but could be used to maintain similar weed control."
On the advocacy front Dr van Rees said long-term trials could provide data supporting the argument for glyphosate for better production and environmental outcomes.