Green thumbs

Genetically engineered crops are more environmentally friendly than
organic ones

By Elliot Entis
April 11, 2010
The Boston Globe

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The yield per acre of such organic crops as wheat and beans is
between 50 and 80 percent of the yield of conventional crops

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GE outperforms conventional crops: yields from genetically
engineered crops are 36% better for corn and 12% better for soy beans

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Since 1997, the reduction in pesticide use resulting from
genetically engineered crops is estimated at 790 million pounds,
or 8.8%, and herbicide reduction in soybeans at 161 million
pounds, or 4.6%

“Farmers who grow Bt-corn [a GE variety that contains the natural pesticide Bt] use 75 percent less pesticides, essentially receiving the benefits of chemicals without releasing them into the environment or leaving residue on the final product.’’ Bt is one of the pesticides organic farmers use to protect their own crops.”

“The organic movement is largely a romantic ideal, far removed in many ways from science. It believes it is environmentally friendly, but it largely avoids science. True environmentalists look at the facts, and those facts do not support the growth of organic farming as a way to feed the world. However, with few exceptions, environmental organizations do not admit to this publicly. Why? Because they share a constituency: citizens who oppose certain elements of mass production farming, who yearn for a simpler time, when things were more natural. But this constituency is built on a shared belief system about the past, not the future.”
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/04/11/…