6-21 FB Pragmatics in Farming

 Why are farmers so adamant about using, and an endorsing genetically modified crops? Think about Roundup Ready.  Corn, sugar beets,  alfalfa. American farmers are choosing genetically engineered crops over conventional counterparts,  for about 100 great reasons.

 Adoption of genetically engineered soybeans, sugar beets, alfalfa and corn, among others, is  very significantly up over 2009 and 2010. Now the fact that agricultural producers are so enthusiastic about the use of these products which are not particularly popular among the “green growers” and organic food enthusiasts, can be explained by pragmatics. So, what do I mean by pragmatics?  Plain and simple there are many practical reasons why as will be explained by Douglas R. Jones, Executive Director, of Growers for Biotechnology and long time Twin Falls Farmer as well as being a State Representative: “It’s environmentally friendly, reduces our carbon footprint, saves us money, and produces a high quality, high yielding crop to feed the world.” Knowing also that farmers are looking to save money by cutting labor costs and pesticide use, genetically engineered crops appear to make a lot of sense, even from an environmental  perspective.