After Years in the Red, Farms Return to Non-GMO Crops to Regain Profits

[progressoid]

20. Which means spraying more chemicals to keep weeds down.

The seeds themselves cost less than their biotech counterparts, but a portion of that savings is lost because of the need to use more chemicals to protect crops. Some growers say they have little to lose by switching back to non-GMO crops because of growing resistance to weeds and pests that have developed to some herbicides, such as Monsanto's Roundup.

Dammann, who farms in Essex, said raising non-GMO corn does come with some added risk.

He not only must pay more for herbicides to combat corn borer and root worm insects, but the yields can sometimes be unpredictable if the weather is not ideal. Dammann said in some years, his yields were in line with biotech crops and in other years they fell short.

In 2012, when the Midwest was in its worst drought in decades, output was 30 percent less than his genetically modified corn, he said.