A man whom I greatly respect, norman Borlaug, who pioneered higher yielding crops in poor soil to feed the world using traditional cross-pollination has gone over to the GMO side.
It bothers me because I share in growing GMO corn and soybeans and wonder if I should get out of it, not that there are viable alternatives in the area. My partner wouldn't revert to the older crops, looked into it extensively before he went over to it, and it requires a change in methods, seeds and chemicals as the article says.
We are small, don't irrigate, not enough ground water to irrigate with, generally adequate rainfall and water retention in soil, apply fall fertilizer, but yields are everything to stay competitive. Other farmers around the country are going for high yields, and it causes surpluses on the market which has driven prices down. Further affecting the market are Argentina now competes, our trade with Mexico who has bought a lot of our corn is being renegotiated (overall a plus imo), Russia won't use GMO along with much of Europe, plus the sanctions on Russia affect exporters of American food leaving primarily China and Japan for export. Also many farmers are putting more ground into soybeans because they yield less per acre but tend to bring higher prices per bushes; i.e., more cost and profit effective.
Norman Borlaug was a great man but he died in 2009.
I have volunteered for the World Food Prize which honors scientific advances in growing more food.
It’s very interesting to hear the scientists themselves talk; unfiltered.
New science including GMO’s is absolutely essential to use.