Should Farmers Plant GM Terminator Seeds?
By: Lance Winslow
If a farmer plants the same crop three seasons in a row he might like to have the non-terminating, but if he plants winter wheat and regular wheat he gets paid by the purity as part of his yield and therefore, would prefer the terminating, having no left over seeds growing within his ranks. Also he can plant GM one year when needed for Ethanol and then another type later for another purpose. Which means it is a very good thing not to mix and this solves a need of the market, purity of product and higher prices paid to the farmer (who is leveraged on the commodity side also so he is downside protected in case of poor yields that season), it ain’t easy being a farmer these days. Farming is a tough row to hoe these days nearly 50% of the family farmers in the US were unable to make it in the couple of decades, it is a travesty.
In years of droughts certain GM seeds use less water, saving the farmer from a massive hardship as less water often means poor yields. Monsanto must have some ROI on their R and D otherwise they will stop trying, and last time I checked we need GM drought resistant corn for ethanol which uses little water without turning the World into a Giant GM one size fits all crop. We need to solve hunger problems with less water for a growing world population, Monsanto and companies like them are able to help.
Should the farmer plant GM Terminator seeds from Monsanto? Well lets let them decide that and let them make that decision for what is best for the farmer. They have had enough hardships over the years, if GM seeds help them and there are buyers of GM crops around the world, then that in itself answers the question; Should Farmers Plant GM Terminator Seeds? Sure they should if they so desire.
Lance Winslow