• Business and biotechnology

Business and biotechnology

This report discusses the global performance of genetically-modified (GM) crops. The analysis includes numerous case studies including case studies on different GM crops in the United States, soybeans in South America and GM cotton in a number of different countries. The report also addresses the issue of crop contamination.

The report argues that to date, GM crops have done nothing to alleviate hunger or poverty. It also finds that:

• the great majority of GM crops cultivated today are used as high-priced animal feed to supply rich nations with meat
• more than four out of every five hectares of GM crops are engineered to withstand the application of proprietary herbicides sold by the same company that markets the GM seed and have little if any relevance to farmers in developing countries who often cannot afford to buy these chemicals
• Monsanto has been the main beneficiary of the commercialisation of GM crops in the United States
• large-scale farmers in the US and Argentina have benefited from a ‘convenience effect’, particularly in soybean production. However, it is questionable whether this ‘convenience effect’ means greater net economic returns compared to those derived from conventional soybean production
• there are a lack of comprehensive studies on the performance of GM crops in every country that has commercialised them, and this consequently calls into question their claimed benefits.

The report concludes that the world needs sustainable agricultural approaches, that governments and agricultural specialists should devote their energies to developing techniques and policies that can provide people with healthy food and sustain the world’s small farmers

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