argylesock says… Is Europe falling behind the Americas because Europe avoids genetically modified (GM) crops? As I mentioned yesterday, our UK Chief Scientific Officer (Mark Walport) says that we’re falling behind. But here’s discussion from New Zealand about what a weak claim that is.
Researchers led by Canterbury University Professor Jack Heinemann have announced further findings that challenge the benefits of genetic modification.
This time their analysis deals with agricultural productivity.
They report finding (see here) that the biotechnologies used in North American staple crop production are lowering yields and increasing pesticide use, compared to western Europe.
A conspicuous difference is the adoption of genetically modified/engineered (GM) seed in North America, and the use of non-GM seed in Europe.
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Science on the Land 
Monsanto et al all like to claim that GMO plants increase yield, but so far they haven’t. The thing is, that most of the GMO food grown in the US are produced on large farms, many owned by corporations far larger than Monsanto. I can’t find evidence one way or another as to whether Roundup ready corn, soybeans etc or BT corn are actually moreprofitable, but I can’t see Continental Grain or Archer Daniels Midland growing them if they weren’t.
I get the impression that those crops give dramatic improvements in yield at first, but within a few years that’s no longer true.
That might be true of something like BT corn, but I’ve seen more published on the Roundup Ready front, where it’s not. I was always lead to believe that the issue was the cost of cultivation to keep weeds down, coupled with the lack of available labor in farm country. Here’s a article about our “superweeds” http://news.yahoo.com/cousin-quinoa-could-spell-ruin-american-farms-225940769.html