But he also warned that growers will have to use the technology responsibly if it is to continue as a useful tool.

"All we hear about is the tremendous benefits, which is fantastic, but growers have to remember it isn't a silver bullet," Mr Moore said.

"The surest way to wreck the system is to just use Roundup as the only herbicide all the time.

"Our American colleagues have showed us this well, and we need to learn from this mistake."

Mr Moore said that Monsanto's PRAMOG - Paddock Risk Assessment Management Option Guide - stewardship program for growers has been designed to keep the threat of glyphosate resistance at bay.

"The herbicide resistance issue is something I am passionate about; we don't want to go down the same track as America," he said.

"We developed a program many years ago, PRAMOG, that is designed to show exactly how Roundup Ready canola will fit in a grower’s system.

"PRAMOG looks at grower history, the probability of resistance issues, given existing modes of actions, it highlights in growers minds, the potential for glyphosate resistance.

"It presents a field-by-field analysis of the risks of growing Roundup Ready canola and each farmer has to go through it each time they grow GM canola.

"There's been good feedback from farmers about how it works.

"The key is to protect the sustainability of our product and the herbicide, and that's why it's so important that we train and accredit all users, and that growers and advisors are aware of their responsibility in that area.

"If you use a single mode of action over and over again, you can end up with a great problem – a farming system that relies on one or two modes of action isn't a farming system."

He said Monsanto, owners of the Roundup Ready trait, would continue to work with seed companies such as Pioneer, Pacific and Nuseed to development new cultivars with better performance traits.

He said there had been promising trial work done on GM canola and that lines with yield advantages to the current ones were in the pipeline.

Mr Moore also flagged the possibility of looking at other GM traits, pointing to the example of improved water use efficiency in cotton, where work has led to the regulatory process beginning for the use of the gene on a commercial scale.