Is there any proof that genetically modified crops on the market today provide tangible benefits to farmers?
Some farmers benefit some of the time, in terms of yield; most do not. Evidence of profitability benefit is scarce to non-existent. Herbicide tolerant (HT) crops yield less than isogenic or other best non-GM counterparts in all circumstances except when weeds are so burdensome that alternative weed control options are ineffective or expensive. In this case, one may ask how the production system in place has generated so wide a niche as to allow such a weed problem to develop in the first place, and if growing an HT crop is the best or only solution. Are there avenues of research in biotechnology potentially more beneficial than those currently being pursued? Not until we know a great deal more about how genes actually function, and how genes regulate physiological pathways, and how genes interact with environment. Until then, release of GM crops into the environment is premature, externalizing costs involuntarily onto society and the environment. So why are they not being followed up?
