PENINSULA Milk in Okehampton has made a stand against genetically modified crops by threatening to stop collecting from a farmer who was due to take part in trials.
Chairman of the company Sandy Loud said Peninsula was looking at being GM-free and claimed that if Cornish suppliers Bryan and Mary Symons went into GM trials their farm would be 'blighted for a very long time'.
The couple, who have been substantial milk producers for the company for a year and farm 120 Holsteins on the Roseland Peninsula, had agreed to take part in the first large-scale GM trial in the West Country by sowing a field of forage maize on a rented field almost three miles away from their farm.
The tests were to be carried out by Aventis who planned to sow both maize containing GM seed and non-GM seeds to allow scientists to monitor the effects on the natural environment, but the farming couple withdraw from the trials on Tuesday after opposition from the milk company.
Mrs Symons said the cows would not have come into contact with the trial area and only two people had shown concern — one a beekeeper — but as milk was the most important part of the farm they had to listen to their buyers.
Sandy Loud said all farmers who supplied Peninsula were shareholders of the company and the Symons were advised it was not in their best interest to take part in the trials.
'It is for their own good in the future and now,' she said. 'We are looking after our farmers' and consumers' interests and we do not know enough about GM food at the present time.
'These trials will blight their farm for a very long time no matter how controlled they are. If Aventis want farmers to take part they should buy all their produce.'