The world's biggest food company has called on European policymakers to reconsider their opposition to genetically modified crops.

"You cannot today feed the world without genetically modified organisms," Peter Brabeck, chairman of Nestle, told the Financial Times in an article published on June 22, 2008.

"We have the means to make agriculture sustainable in the long term.

What we don't see for the time being is the political will."

The European Commission says biotechnology could help to solve the food crisis and officials say they are frustrated that national governments often block their recommendations for GM approval.

"Their resistance stems from how Europe feels about GMOs," said a spokesman.

Few GM strains of crops have been licensed by the EU. This has left European farmers angry about the increasingly high prices they are being forced to pay for non-GM animal feed.

In Britain, the National Farmers' Union has asked leading supermarket chains to drop GM-free requirements from all save organic food.

Farmers are finding it difficult to source non-GM soyabeans to feed poultry flocks because Brazil, the leading exporter of non-GM soya, has been planting more GM crops.

Mr Brabeck said European concerns over the health risks of GM were unfounded, given that such foods had been eaten safely by Americans for decades.

"It is one of the safest technologies that we have ever seen - much safer than bio or organic or whatever else is fashionable in Europe," he said.

Organic food crops, which typically yield less than GM food crops, were "a nice treat for those who can afford it", he said.

In a related article, Sir David King, the UK government's former chief scientist, is one who says GM is the only technology available to solve the world food price crisis.

Your regular anti-GM correspondents would do well to refer to these statements when they claim food companies and whole countries will not buy GM crops, and farmers do not want to grow them.

We must not continue to pander to the vocal minority that believes we can live a utopian existence as serf farmers. If we are to feed the world and not continue to rape and exploit the planet, we must use the best technology.

More chemicals, more ploughing, more irrigation and less forests are not the answer.

Councils which reject this technology would do well to ponder that 90 per cent of the soy and soy extract used in Australia is of imported GM origin, and soy is used in most processed foods, and GM cottonseed is the major commercial cooking oil.

It just may be that they will force food retailers to break their rules every day.