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How Is Gmo Changing America

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GMOs; Changing Crops, Changing America Over the past decades, agriculture technology and productivity has been changing drastically to fit the needs of the world population. The largest agricultural production country, the United States, has been experiencing these changes more rapidly just to meet these agricultural demands. This in turn has lead to serious controversies over the ethics and morals of some agricultural practices, namely Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). With the US population increasing every year, US farmers had to develop some way to meet the high demands of the people, therefore, GMOs were developed to help increase crop yields while also helping farmers financially by using less pesticides and herbicides. The origin of GMOs started in 1982 by an experiment done by the United States Department of Agriculture, in which they changed the genes of a tomato plant. Commercial use of Genetically Engineered crops began in 1996 (Fernandez-Cornejo et al. pg 7). While developing Genetically Modified Organisms, scientists and researchers characterized the types of Genetically Engineered crop traits into …show more content…

One of the major reasons for the use of GMOs was stated by Chris Black, a plant science major and owner of Richland Plant Food Company. When Mr. Black was asked the question, “Why do farmers now use GMOs when growing crops”, he said “It really helps the everyday farmer with economics and efficiency. Since the US population is always increasing, GMOs have made a cheaper food source to the American Market.” Mr. Black also stated that “It also helps farmers save thousands of dollars in insecticide and herbicide cost that can become overwhelming, because many of the GMO seeds now have this trait. Plus Genetically Engineered crops are more environmentally friendly than organic crops, because they require less water than organic

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