NRC Biotech Report

The National Research Council (NRC) released a report entitled Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States. Overall press coverage of this report is positive on the impacts of bitechnology.

A National Public Radio (NPR) article quoted David Ervin chair of the committee producing the report: "What we found is that the farmers who adopted these genetically engineered crops have received both environmental and economic benefits. Although genetically engineered seeds often cost more, the farmers more than make up for the discrepancy by using less labor and fewer chemicals to product their crops."

One quibble I have with the above statement is the "less labor" aspect.  The report is likely using this in an "economic sense".  It is doubtful that use of biotech crops have a measurable impact on labor per acre of crop.  What  biotech crops do is make management more streamline in that certain pest and herbicide problems are more easy to deal with.

The Corn & Soybean Digest also had an article on the NRC report.  To some extent the Corn & Soybean Digest article was less positive than the NPR article, emphasizing weed problems that may arise because of resistance to glyphosate.