1. GMO’s in Precision Agriculture
Michael Roberts
April 30, 2001
SOIL 4213

2. Good Aspects of GMO’s PRESENTLY AVAILABLE!!!!! More coming
Time savings
Bt Corn
Allow Application of Non-Selective Herbicides on your crop
I’m not going to waste your time because we know many of their benefits.

3. Problems with GMO’s Aventis Cropscience’s StarLink Corn
North Pacific Salmon
example of consequences
Personal Consulting Experiences

4. StarLink Corn Modified protein to combat ECB
Approved for animal consumption in 1998
NEVER approved for human consumption
Planted on .02 of a % of US corn ac in 2000
Doesn’t impose immediate health threat to humans(???????)
Possible slower breakdown than other GM corn and possible allergic reactions.

5. StarLink Problems StarLink corn discovered in taco chips
US Govt. will spend $20 mil to buyback ,000 bags of corn seed
More importantly you and I will spend!
US corn exports to JAPAN and S Korea declined after StarLink contamination was discovered

6. StarLink Problems Cont.
Farmers & Seed Companies, through no fault of their own, have corn cross-bred with StarLink
“The whole problem arose because the EPA made the unwarranted assumption that it could be grown for animals and could be kept out of the human food supply.”
C. Foreman, 2001 Consumer Federation of America
USDA, EPA, & FDA
Emotional reporters with or without facts

7. North Pacific Salmon
Salmon have been genetically modified to reach mature weights in 1/4 to 1/2 the normal time.
Fast production of fish to feed increasing population Victor talked about

8. Salmon Problems
Female salmon select the largest males to reproduce with
although all males will reproduce, most reproduction is from the largest males
Experiments show that the salmon population would reach extinction within 10 years of release of Super Salmon males
This due to less fit and less adaptable males doing the reproducing

9. Personal Experiences Most US farmers are somehow money driven
You would be surprised what they’d do to get it
drugs????
1 farm = 4 farms
The Miracle Sprayer

10. Problems Observed Bt Feed Corn Silage Corn RR Cotton RR Cotton
White Food
Corn
Bt Feed
Corn
Silage
Corn RR
Cotton
BXN
Cotton
White Bt
Feed Corn
W Corn needs stand longer, more CB control, away from Y Corn

11. Other Problems Off-Label Applications The Hood = The Miracle Sprayer
More Bt ac than allowed
More herbicides applied than allowed / year
RR on cotton after 5th-leaf stage
Layby cotton with a
Many many more
The Hood = The Miracle Sprayer

12. John Deere Inc.

13. Red Ball Inc.

14. John Deere Inc.

15. Conclusions
Are we creating an environment less favorable for agriculture than the present one by applying present technologies?
We don’t want our Agriculture to end up like the salmon experiments so it is critical what we do today.
CONTINUE WITH MORE RESEARCH
FYI….I as well as many others will use GMO’s until someone tells me I can’t because of convenience and profitability!