Premium Price For Gmo Bt Corn Costs Farmers, Boosts Biotech Firms, Ben Lilliston and Charles Benbrook, Genetically Engineered Food Alert
Premiums of up to 35 precent on the price of Bt corn, a genetically engineered form of conventional corn created to eliminate the pesky European Corn Borer and Southwestern Corn Borer, have significantly increased corn prices and reduced profits of American Farmers. A report released by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and Genetically Engineered Food Alert found that while biotech industry earnings have increased up to 18 percent from 1998-2000, "Farmers' net income per acre from corn production has declined sharply from a profit of $40 per acre in 1975, to a loss of $26 per acre in 1985, and a loss of $35 per acre in 1997." Kristin Hawkins, of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy states, "This report clearly shows that farmers are heavily subsidizing the big increase in research and development costs associated with the commercialization of GMO corn varieties, triggering further erosion to farm income."
--Mary Matze
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