Cornucopia’s Take: GMO seed, developed and marketed to increase yields and lower pesticide applications, are not out-performing conventional crops in Europe, nor are they lowering pesticide usage. We are left to wonder what would happen if journalists began to ask what is possible if research and development worked on organic production rather than chemical/GMO production.
Doubts About the Promised Bounty of Genetically Modified Crops
The New York Times
by Danny Hakim
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LONDON — The controversy over genetically modified crops has long focused on largely unsubstantiated fears that they are unsafe to eat.
But an extensive examination by The New York Times indicates that the debate has missed a more basic problem — genetic modification in the United States and Canada has not accelerated increases in crop yields or led to an overall reduction in the use of chemical pesticides.
The promise of genetic modification was twofold: By making crops immune to the effects of weedkillers and inherently resistant to many pests, they would grow so robustly that they would become indispensable to feeding the world’s growing population, while also requiring fewer applications of sprayed pesticides.
