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Higher food prices, a significant boost in greenhouse gas emissions due to land use change and major loss of forest and pasture land would be some results if genetically modified organisms in the United States were banned, according to a Purdue University study.
Wally Tyner. . ., Farzad Taheripour, . . . and Harry Mahaffey . . ., wanted to know the significance of crop yield loss if genetically modified crops were banned from U.S. farm fields, as well as how that decision would trickle down to other parts of the economy. . . .The findings of the study, funded by the California Grain & Feed Association, will be published in the journal AgBioForum this spring.
“This is not an argument to keep or lose GMOs,” Tyner said. “It’s just a simple question: What happens if they go away?”
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Eliminating all GMOs in the United States, the model shows corn yield declines of 11.2 percent on average. Soybeans lose 5.2 percent of their yields and cotton 18.6 percent. To make up for that loss, about 102,000 hectares of U.S. forest and pasture would have to be converted to cropland and 1.1 million hectares globally for the average case.
Greenhouse gas emissions increase significantly because with lower crop yields, more land is needed for agricultural production, and it must be converted from pasture and forest.
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With lower crop yields without GMO traits, commodity prices rise. . . .Consumers could expect food prices to rise 1-2 percent, or $14 billion to $24 billion per year.
. . . .Tyner and Taheripour said they will continue their research to understand how expansion of and reductions of GMO crops worldwide could affect economies and the environment.
Read full, original post: Eliminating GMOs would take toll on environment, economies
