MB Co-operator: New York Times findings on GM crops disputed

As the Manitoba Co-Operator reports:

Genetically modified (GM) crops haven’t increased yields or reduced pesticide use as promised by developers, according to a study conducted by the New York Times published Oct. 29.

But a Canadian study shows biotechnology, which includes genetic modification and new hybridization techniques in canola, boosted yields and put billions of extra dollars into farmers’s pockets.

“We calculated the cumulative benefit of this adoption at $30 billion from 1996 to 2012 and it has been on an upward trend for most of that period,” agricultural economists Stavroula Malla (University of Lethbridge) and Derek Brewin (University of Manitoba) wrote in a paper published last year in AgVio Forum.

“For the 2012 crop year, we estimated the net benefits at $726 million,” their paper reads.