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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Now......GMO sweet corn

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  • From: Etienne Goyer <etienne.goyer AT outlands.ca>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Now......GMO sweet corn
  • Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:28:00 -0400

On 11-09-20 08:09 AM, Richard Stewart wrote:
> My experiences planting heirloom corn (Kruggs Yellow and Boone County
> white) and beans (Black Turtle) on three acres or more is that the yields
> are far less than conventional and much more highly prone to weather
> conditions, mainly because of weed and cultivation issues.

We are not debating organic vs. conventional here, we are discussing
GMO. So the question is: do you get better yield by using GMO corn vs
using conventional hybrid corn? If yes, would that yield increase
transfer to marginal growing condition in arid climate? I doubt that
last bit.

Now, to discuss organic vs conventional (since you raised that), if you
where growing modern hybrid organically, would the yield still be "far
less" than if you where growing similar non-GMO hybrid conventionally?
IIRC, the yield of staple crop grown organically is reputedly within 15%
of the yield of the same crop grown conventionally (I'll dig up the
reference later, if you wish). Do you observe the same on your farm?

Lastly, Richard, like many GMO proponent, if you fall into the trap of
thinking world hunger is an agronomic problem. It's not. It's an
economic problem. It's not that we have a shortage of food (and hence
need to prop up production), it's that a portion of the human population
cannot afford to pay for food, however cheap it is.

And for the future, I am personally convinced that if we invested
collectively in improving yield (organically or not) the same amount
that is being invested in developing GMO, we would be able improve
agriculture sufficiently to cover future need. But, while you can
patent and "productize" a GMO, you cannot profit from improving the crop
selection and growing techniques of the Third World. So there.

In other word, it is all about resource allocation.




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