The European Union's process for authorising the use of new genetically modified varieties is paralysed and livestock farmers and consumers will suffer the consequences, according to NFU Scotland.

The crux of the problem is the EU's slow GM authorisation process, whereby a new variety takes, on average, two-and-a-half years to be approved. It can take as long as a decade, compared to an average of only 15 months in the US.

This leads to the situation where a GM variety is approved for use in food and in the manufacture of animal feed abroad, but cannot be imported into Europe. The result is a sharp reduction in the amount of non-GM feed potentially available for import into the EU and for use by livestock farmers in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe.

In practice, the impact of this EU approval process has so far been negligible. However, according to NFUS, the situation is changing rapidly.

The US is now cultivating a variety of GM maize and is expected to very shortly start growing a GM variety of soybean, the main ingredient of animal feed used in the UK More worryingly, there are signs that Brazil and Argentina, the two major exporters of feed to the EU, are considering switching to new GM varieties. Previously they have been reluctant to do so because the EU market, which has not approved new GM soybean varieties, is their biggest customer.

However, China is emerging as a major soybean importer, offering a potential alternative market for Brazil and Argentina.

A report published by the European Commission's Agricultural Directorate last year makes some horrendous predictions if this latter scenario, where the US, Brazil and Argentina approve and grow GM varieties of soybean before they are approved in the EU, becomes a reality.

It forecasts vast rises in feed prices, by as much as 600%, the loss of a third of the EU pigs sector, half the poultry sector, a huge rise in meat imports and the effective end of meat exports.

As a result of their concerns the union has written to Scotland's MEPs, drawing their attention to the report.

The chairman of the NFUS Milk Committee, Willie Lamont, said: "GM is obviously a sensitive issue and we have to take our customers with us. However, the reality is that there is a science-based process for authorising GM varieties in the EU to ensure they pass all the necessary checks.

"That system isn't being allowed to do its job and, in the meantime, the world is moving on.

LFASS payments on their way
 The Scottish Government has begun to process the Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme payments.

According to a spokesperson, the first payment batch will be in bank accounts next Monday - if there are no unforeseen hitches.