U.S. Farmers Love Biotech...Apparently

Farmers in the United States are continuing to plant genetically engineered crops at unprecedented levels according to a report released recently by the USDA's Economic Research Service.

The report found that the adoption (the percentage of farmers planting a certain kind of crop) of GE soybeans reached 91 percent; the adoption of GE cotton reached 88 percent; and the adoption of all biotech corn climbed to 85 percent in 2009.

Farmers are doing this despite claims that growing biotech crops in the U.S. has done little to increase yields.  According to the Failure to Yield (pdf) report (previously cited on this blog) conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientist's Doug Gurian-Sherman:

...genetically engineering herbicide-tolerant soybeans and herbicide-tolerant corn has not increased yields. Insect-resistant corn, meanwhile, has improved yields only marginally. The increase in yields for both crops over the last 13 years, the report found, was largely due to traditional breeding or improvements in agricultural practices.

So why are U.S. farmers continuing to plant biotech crops?

Monsanto would tell you that it's because GE crops help increase farm income, require less inputs and are even more environmentally friendly than traditional crops.  Is this true?  Well, we don't really know.  When you control the rights to the seed, you get to control the research and information that gets released.  For all we know, GE crops could destroy farm incomes and the environment.

I'm finding that the question of why farmers plant biotech crops is eerily similar to the question of why people choose to eat high-fat, processed foods (even when they know it's not good for them).

I'd argue that convenience, price and response to mass-marketing play an important role in both of these choices, and that the science (or lack there of) and consequences of these decisions are buried in the back of the minds of both groups.

We're starting--through the drastic increase in obesity and diet-related diseases like diabetes--to see what our food choices are doing to our bodies.

With much of the research on GE crops controlled by the very companies that profit from their sale, how can we be sure that widespread usage of biotech seeds is safe for our food supply and the environment?  The short answer: we can't.

As long as we have corporations pushing genetically engineered seeds to farmers in this country, and making a hardy profit doing so, we're going to have markets controlled by 80-90 percent GE crops.

If there are any farmers out there reading, I'd be interested to know, is there a reason why you choose (or choose not to) plant genetically engineered crops?

(Photo credit: iowa spirit walker on Flickr)