At a time of increasing rejection of GMOs by consumers and food manufacturers in the north (Big vote for organic food: 75% would pay extra rather than buy GM products - Montreal Gazette) and the south (Food to be labelled to show it's GM-free - BANGKOK POST), why would US farmers be planting more GM crops? Because they are continuing to be misled perchance?
The following is the Associated Press via Monsanto which reports the expert advice given to farmers in Illinois (eg "the opposition to modified soybeans has waned"!). Compare and contrast with the following:
"The only farmers making any money off GMOs have been those who are growing non-GMO stuff and can prove it." Linda Edwards, Canadian farmer, November 27, 2000
"Farmers are really starting to question the profit-enhancing ability of products that seem to be shutting them out of markets worldwide" Cory Ollikka, Canada's National Farmers Union president calling for a moratorium on GM crops, December 2000
"The only truly safe seed selection will be seed corn free of any genetic modification" A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. in a letter to 1,200 of its corn suppliers, November 2000
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Farmers To Plant More Genetically Modified Beans
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Content, unless specifically noted as sourced from Monsanto, is from the source noted and does not necessarily reflect views or positions taken by Monsanto Company. http://www.biotechknowledge.com/showlib.php3?uid=5006&country=uk
According to the Associated Press, Illinois soybean farmers told the government that they will plant more than half of their acreage with genetically modified seed this year, despite the controversy about bioengineered foods.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is reporting that Illinois farmers plan to plant 59 percent of their soybean acres with modified crops, up from 44 percent last year. ‘We eat the products we produce,’ said Phil Corzine, who farms near Decatur. ‘We believe they're safe.’
AP also reported that experts said other varieties of genetically modified corn and soybeans have won government approval for human consumption in the United States, Europe and Japan. And the opposition to modified soybeans has waned, they said.
"There is a market for the stuff and it has technological advantages, said Gerald C. Nelson, a University of Illinois researcher who recently edited a book on the science and politics surrounding genetically modified agriculture. One timely example of that advantage is the cost of tending the modified soybeans. Nelson said the biotech beans require farmers to make fewer trips through the field, which can save growers' money at a time when fuel prices are high.î