I’m not big on GMOs; just that (most) corn is one of the exceptions, IF it is not also “Roundup-ready”. That is mainly commercial corn seed, not generally available to gardeners, AFAIK, though that may be quietly changing without labeling as such. OTOH, Roundup-ready crops don’t produce viable seeds; but planting a Roundup-ready seed only produces a plant resistant to glyphosate, but doesn’t require it be used—thought the farmers obviously will on commercial crops.
The seed saving aspect of GMOs is a concern for sure, and the court decisions on that are terrible. In the cases where where even non-GMO seed from adjacent fields pollinated by the neighbor’s GMO crop is considered a patent violation if planted, it’s a travesty.
I was only pointing out that your hubby’s corn, even if GMO, is safe for consumption.
As for the cross-species manipulation, forget it. That opens too many problems in solving a non-problem, especially in these days of seemingly increasing allergies & allergy-like diseases.
I get most of my corn seed from Baker’s Creek. They test their seed, and have noted that it is getting harder and harder to find corn seed that has not been contaminated by GMO/cross.
I plant it as far away as I can from Hubby’s, and stagger it by at least 3 weeks hoping to avoid unintentional crosses. Just so I can maybe have some viable seeds to use if needed.
I was intrigued to read somewhere that someone finally sued Monsanto for contaminating their organic crop - tee hee. Turn about is fair play they say.
I also read an interesting article regarding how susceptible our corn output has become to some sort of widespread disease, because the bases of the hybrids have so little diversity these days. Too long ago for me to recall the details though.
There is a guy from the Pacific Northwest away from the corn belt that is working with some of the heirlooms to get a cross that will be sweeter and more tender than some of the old varieties. That will be interesting to see how it turns out.