US farmers may stop planting GMs after poor global yields

[eridani]

http://www.fwi.co.uk/articles/06/02/2013/137518/us-farmers-may-stop-planting-gms-after-poor-global-yields.htm#.UW0FGkb9SGd.twitter

Some US farmers are considering returning to conventional seed after increased pest resistance and crop failures meant GM crops saw smaller yields globally than their non-GM counterparts.

Farmers in the USA pay about an extra $100 per acre for GM seed, and many are questioning whether they will continue to see benefits from using GMs.

"It's all about cost benefit analysis," said economist Dan Basse, president of American agricultural research company AgResource.

"Farmers are paying extra for the technology but have seen yields which are no better than 10 years ago. They're starting to wonder why they're spending extra money on the technology."

One of the biggest problems the USA has seen with GM seed is resistance. While it was expected to be 40 years before resistance began to develop pests such as corn rootworm have formed a resistance to GM crops in as few as 14 years.

[djean111]

1. "It's all about cost benefit analysis,"

That pretty much sums up everything in the United States right now.
That's unregulated capitalism, at its worst and inevitable form.

Years ago I read a pretty good book called "To Engineer is Human". The author explained that almost everything that is built is a compromise between safety and cost - and then I read somewhere that airlines routinely weigh fixing a safety issue against how much they would have to pay out if a plane went down. I was in an airplane at the time. I never slept on an airplane again - and at one time I had a job that required travel to Japan four or five times a year. I will never travel in an Airbus.
Imagine how things will be if the 1% are completely successful in doing away with all regulations. It starts with not inspecting chickens any more, except by the very people who have the most to gain by not really inspecting.

The "free hand of the market" really means profits outweigh everything else and problems will only be addressed after people get hurt, and not prevented beforehand. Brave new world.

And - can the farmers easily return to non-GMO seed? I keep reading about how the GMO seed gets into non-GMO crops, and the farmers are successfully sued (WTF) for having GMO-infested crops. I know there is a recent case that looked like it was going to the Supreme Court or something like that, a farmer fighting against Monsanto's tactics?????