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Nowadays, the most important matter in the discussion is the influence of GMOs on health and the environment. In this constant dialogue we can barely hear voices referring to economic issues, yet they are essential. If we took a closer look at animal feeding and production we could observe the enormous social and economic consequences such restrictions would have. Livestock farming is the sector that would suffer most and, among others, Polish society would pay a very high price for these limitations.
Poland is the biggest poultry producer in the entire Europe. The basic ingredients of feeds used in poultry production are protein components, mostly soybean meal produced from the soya seeds. Our national production was not and is not able to handle the current demand; therefore Poland imports about 2 million tons of soybean meal per year, mostly from South America.
About 98 percent of it is made of genetically modified soya, which is 20 – 30 percent cheaper than the “GMO free” soya. The cost of feed alone constitutes about 60 – 70 percent of the entire poultry production cost. At the moment there is no way to replace modified soya and without it Polish poultry production will not be as competitive as it is right now. . . . This will lead to destruction of our important agricultural sector on the one hand and on the other it will not protect consumers from eating food produced with GMOs. This is a vicious circle.
Read full, original post: The economic case in favour of GMOs
