The negative rhetoric surrounding GMOs, big ag and non-organic food production is due for a reckoning. At some point, many will have to wake up to the reality that their beliefs on food are less rational than they are ideological. And that, in some cases, these beliefs are slowing food production worldwide.
“If we continue to make it hard for farmers to maintain production, we will have to accept a little more hunger and more food insecurity,” said food and agricultural economist Jayson Lusk, speaking at an Agvocacy Forum in Anaheim, Calif.
Many of these beliefs seem like philosophical, almost religious, responses cloaked in baseless accusations of what are real, tangible and very practical and needed advancements for agriculture and food production.\
“The average consumer may believe that organic is better, but that same person wants his or her tomatoes to last on the counter for an entire week,” said Juan Sabater, a tomato farmer in California.
…
Public perception can close doors. And it has. Researchers won’t pursue projects that have no support, regardless of how beneficial the advancement could be to the global food market.
Editor’s note: Toban Dyck is a farmer and Director of Communications at Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers
Read full, original post: Ripe for a rethink: Why the anti-GMO crowd can’t have it both ways
