US Staple Crop System Failing from GM and Monoculture

by I-SIS July 11, 2013
Resilience, yields, pesticide use, and genetic diversity, all worse than Non-GM Europe
by Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji


A new study shows that the US Midwest staple crop system — predominantly genetically modified (GM) — is falling behind other economically and technologically equivalent regions. Western Europe, matched for latitude, season and crop type as well as economic and technological development, outperforms the US (and Canada) with regards to yields, pesticide use, genetic diversity and crop resilience, as well as farm worker wellbeing.

The study, headed by Jack Heinemann at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, is a damning indictment of the large-scale, monoculture model in the US, the world’s largest producer of maize since the records began in 1961, and is increasingly relied upon to provide more and more of the world’s calorie intake [1]. This serves as a warning to the UK environmental minister Owen Paterson, who proposes to introduce GM crops into the UK [2].
READ FULL STORY: US Staple Crop System Failing from GM and Monoculture