USDA Study Says Price to Determine GMO Acceptance

USDA Study Says Price to Determine GMO Acceptance

WASHINGTON--The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), www.usda.gov,published a study in the April issue of its USDA Agricultural Outlook magazine thatnoted that price would be the defining factor in determining the demand for geneticallyengineered (GE) crops. According to the USDA, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) mayalso be affected, in part, by regulation such as mandatory labeling, which will raise theprice of GMO products in the world market.

The United States exports only 18 percent of its total corn harvest, yet it makes upapproximately 67 percent of the world corn trade. Recent labeling requirements in Japanand Russia have increased the cost of importing GE agricultural products, and exports tothe European Union (EU) have dwindled to a mere one percent of exports because of GMOs.

U.S. soy producers are even more dependent on exports than corn, according to USDAstatistics. However, the EU is also more dependent on U.S. imports and has even approvedmany of the GE varieties for import. The USDA report did not predict that soybean exportswould be affected by new foreign GE rules. The USDA warned that there may be problems inthe future, as even more GE varieties are introduced by U.S. farmers, and noted thatsoybean exports to the EU declined by 6 million tons between 1997 and 1998 as the EUslowly found other sources for soybean imports.