A Hawkes Bay farmer forced to destroy his 22ha sweetcorn crop after it tested positive for genetic modification late last year says he is happy with the compensation he received.
Biosecurity Minister Jim Anderton said yesterday all farmers with contaminated corn had been compensated.
He was responding to
National Party allegations of delay in arranging compensation.
In December, sweetcorn on 18 Hawkes Bay and Gisborne farms had to be destroyed.
The grower, who did not want to be named, was one of 10 farmers who chose to replant his crop.
"We replanted, and as the weather has turned out, the crop wasn't too bad. It all worked out pretty well in the end," he said.
He did not know of anyone who was unhappy with the compensation paid.
Mr Anderton said negotiations with growers had taken time because of the number of parties involved and the complexity of some of the claims.
He was commenting on claims by the National Party's associate agriculture spokesman Nathan Guy that a group of farmers had been "hung out to dry" over the contaminated GE corn seeds.
Mr Guy said the 18 farmers on the North Island's East Coast affected by last year's GE corn blunder were counting the cost of Mr Anderton's indecision.
The farmers planted GE corn seed that was incorrectly cleared by MAF Biosecurity.
"While the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry paid some destruction and re-cultivation costs - about $70,000 in total - farmers have lost most of this year's income from those crops," Mr Guy said.
Mr Anderton said most parties were satisfied with the compensation arrangements.
- Hawke's Bay Today
