Do GMO's increase yields?

Do GMOs increase yields?
India is one of the most experienced countries in agriculture. They have been experimenting with many different types of polycultures (different species of crops) of cross pollination, and many different types of monocultures (one specie of crop, which all GMOs by default are monocultures). Over a decade ago, Indians were told by Monsanto that switching over to their Bt cotton GMO would make them rich with increased yields. Indian farmers spent their life savings on this new patented plant and over a quarter of a million Indian farmers began committing suicide when they learned that Monsanto's GMO decreased their yields and they went bankrupt, which was confirmed by the Indian Ministry of Agriculture in 2012.[a] Is it true that GMO's decrease yields? What do the peer reviewed studies say?

The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report is authored by more than 400 scientists and backed by 58 governments concluded that there is no evidence that GMOs increase food security. [1]

An official USDA report stated in 2006 that GMO crop yields are not greater than conventional crop yields, according to the Center for Food Safety [2] 

United Nations reports from howstuff works; While this makes perfect sense, we've been led to believe from the factory farming industry and especially GMO heavy weights like Monsanto, that GMOs and conventional crops are what's necessary to feed the world. In fact, the opposite is true. Small scale farming, according to the report, can serve to create self sustainability amongst those in rural poverty. [3]

An article in the Agrobiotechnology Management and Economics concluded “we expose the fact that current bio-engineered crops are not designed to increase yields or for poor small farmers, so that they may not benefit from them” [4]

Research in Agricultural and Applied Economics stated “it is shown that GMOs do not ensure sustainability of agricultural production and that they can be a source of rural disharmony and can threaten the sustainability of farming communities. ” [5]

In 2009 the Union of Concerned Scientists (1,000 Scientists) summarized numerous peer-reviewed studies on the yield of GMOs in the United States and concluded “No currently available transgenic varieties enhance the intrinsic yield of any crops.” [6]

World Association of Beet and Cane Growers (WABCG) stated, through experience, that the GMO for Beets decrease yields. [7]
US Department of Agriculture also supported their claim by explaining beets dropped from 26.8 tons per acre in 2008-09 to 25.7 tpa in 2009-10. WABCG, [8] (although they promotes genetically engineered crops), reported that 130 delegates from over 20 nations attended its tenth conference and found the same thing. Monsanto denied all negative comments about its product, reports AgriMoney
“Global Citizens’ Report on the State of GMOs, drew on data from 20 Indian, southeast Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people. It showed that genetically modified seeds have not increased crop yields, but have led to the creation of “superweeds” resistant to herbicides” [9]
A 1999 study by Charles Benbrook, Chief Scientist of the Organic Center, found that genetically engineered Roundup Ready soybeans did not increase yields. The report reviewed over 8,200 university trials in 1998 and found that Roundup Ready soybeans had a yield drag of 5.3% across all varieties tested. In addition, the same study found that farmers used 2–5 times more herbicide (Roundup) on Roundup Ready soybeans compared to other popular weed management systems. [10]

A 2008 Soil Association report found that some scientific studies claimed that genetically modified varieties of plants do not produce higher crop yields than normal plants [11]
[3] http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/un-report-released-can-organic-farming-feed-the-world.htm
[4] http://www.agbioforum.org/v2n34/v2n34a03-altieri.htm
[5] http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/55335
[6] http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/failure-to-yield.pdf
[7] http://lastoneeating.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/gmo-beet-yield-drops-in-us-monsanto-raises-seed-price-22-pct/
 
[8] http://www.wabcg10.com/content-62
[9] http://pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/genetically-modified-crops-do.html
[10] http://www.nlpwessex.org/docs/benbrook.htm
[11] http://www.soilassociation.org/farmersgrowers/classifieds


No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)