What Farmers Think About GM Crops
Science Daily published an article on a study conducted at Open University in the United Kingdom on how farmers feel about genetically modified crops. The research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) found that farmers are actually in favor of GM crops as long as they provide economic benefits to the farmer.
C.S. Prakash
What Farmers Think About GM Crops
Science Daily
February 24, 2008
Farmers are upbeat about genetically modified crops, according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
A group at the Open University, led by Professor Andy Lane, has taken the first systematic look at what large-scale, commodity farmers -- not those mainly involved in organic growing - think about genetically-modified crops. We know how consumers, governments and the food industry regard GM, but this is the first proper look at the attitudes of the people who would use GM crops.
Lane and his colleagues found that both farmers who have been involved in GM crop trials and those who have not, regard GM as a simple extension of previous plant breeding techniques, such as those which have produced today's established crop types. They regard GM crops as an innovation which they would assess on its merits. Their real interest is in how GM crops would work in practice and whether they can contribute to the profitability of their farms. The research suggests that these farmers do not think that GM raises any issues of principle, or that it is a matter of right or wrong.
Professor Lane said: "New technology such as GM is attractive to farmers. They want to produce high-quality food profitably and they want to farm in an environmentally sensitive way. GM may allow them to reconcile this conundrum by doing both of these things at once."
