Dropping yields

Almost half of all corn grown in the US is genetically engineered and for soybeans it is 80%.

The yield for soybeans has gone down however, according to Bill Freese at the Centre for Food Safety.

"What we've seen with the herbicide tolerant soybeans overall, is a 5-10% lower yield with the Round-up Ready soybeans - that's the herbicide tolerant soybean sold by Monsanto," he says.

But Michael Fromm, director for the Centre of Biotechnology at the University of Nebraska, who helped develop GM crops for Monsanto, points out that farmers who buy genetically engineered seed decide whether the price is worth the yield they achieve."

"There's absolutely no one making him buy those seeds," he says.

"They're voting for the transgenic seeds at higher cost for higher benefits."

The yield for soybeans has gone down however, according to Bill Freese at the Centre for Food Safety

No agenda there is there? Put on your thinking cap. Yield down? From when? compared to 1950, 1960, 2008?

The food system we have is not perfect, far from it but it is the best there is.