In the 20 years since GMO crops were approved for cultivation, U.S. farmers have embraced them almost to exclusion of other seeds while Europe has steadily refused to let them into its fields. The New York Times says its “extensive examination” of U.S. and European farming found that genetic engineering “has not accelerated increases in crop yields or led to an overall reduction in the use of chemical pesticides.”
Data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization “showed that the United States and Canada have gained no discernible advantage in yields — food per acre — when measured against western Europe, a region with comparably modernized agricultural producers, like France and Germany. At the same time, herbicide use has increased. The Times said that when GMO crops were launched, the expectation was for rapid increase in yields while there would be less overall use of herbicides and insecticides.
Robb Fraley, chief technology officer of Monsanto, told the Times it was cherry-picking data to make GMO crops look bad. Farmers wouldn’t buy GMO seeds, which cost substantially more than non-GMO seeds, unless they saw a biotech benefit, Fraley told the Times. “Biotech tools have clearly driven yield increases enormously.”
Michael Owen, a weed scientist at Iowa State University, said the seed industry has not “found the mythical yield gene” via genetic modification, although it says the technology is vital to feeding the rapidly growing world population.
Critiques similar to the Times’ have been raised for years. In February, researcher Charles Benbrook said the frequency and level of use of glyphosate is climbing, partly due to the emergence of weed resistance to the chemical. The Union of Concerned Scientists said in a 2009 report that recent yield increases are the result of better farming practices or traditional plant breeding.