Kenneth Hartman's reasons for growing genetically altered corn are simple and straightforward.
"I'm working to have the healthiest plant and the best yield. That's what biotech delivers," said the 42-year-old Hartman, who farms near Waterloo, Illinois.
For years he has been among the farmers in the area who has been eagerly trying genetically altered crops, and he swears by the new varieties of maize and soybeans that have been developed in the laboratories of Monsanto Inc, a global biotechnology company based in nearby St. Louis, Missouri.
The genetically altered seeds are more expensive than conventional varieties, but Hartman accepts their use because he can reduce his use of herbicides and pesticides and achieve overall higher yields.
"It's like buying insurance that pays off," said Hartman told reporters recently on his 1,400-hectare, family-run Glendell Farm.
"We are trying to push away from chemicals," Hartman explains, adding that while ordinary crops have to be sprayed several times during the growing season, altered corn and soybeans often require no pesticide and only a single application of herbicide. "I don't like to use chemicals."
European farmers often feel the same but are less willing than Hartman to plant what Monsanto and other biotechnology firms have developed.
Hartman can't understand this deep skepticism.
He views biotechnology as a logical extension of the crossbreeding that human beings have done for millennia since plants were first domesticated.
The new varieties could have been grown naturally, but genetic engineering made the process much faster.
The genetically altered Bt maize in Hartman's fields is lethal to pest larvae such as the corn borer and root worm.
Another genetically altered crop, Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybean, is overwhelmingly popular with Midwestern farmers. The Roundup Ready gene, which conveys immunity to Monsanto's widely used Roundup, a herbicide that blocks chlorophyl respiration and in effect suffocates any green plant.
A farmer can spray a field once -- a few weeks after the Roundup Ready soybeans sprout and begin forming a leaf canopy -- to kill any weeds that could compete for sun, water and nutrients.
Any weeds that sprout after the single pass with Roundup have little chance to grow in the shade from the soybeans themselves.
Before the Roundup Ready gene, farmers could only spray Roundup before planting -- an alternative to tilling the soil to kill spring weeds. Any weeds that appeared after sowing had to be sprayed with chemicals that didn't harm soybeans.
Roundup has environmental advantages over other weed killers. Because it kills anything green, it is designed to break down quickly in the soil; new crops can be planted and sprout unharmed within a week or two. Other herbicides that might spare soybeans while snuffing out competing grasses, for example, have longer residual effects to stop weeds throughout the growing season but also tend to run off into rivers and lakes.
The use of Roundup Ready soybeans allows farmers to make fewer tractor passes on the field, saving fuel and reducing soil compaction, which has sharply reduced the need for tilling -- dragging a plough to loosen or turn the soil -- before planting and after harvest. Less tillage prevents erosion, keeping field fertile and surface waters clean and clear.
Monsanto also has inserted the Roundup Ready gene into maize, canola and cotton, a crop that has long required massive pesticide use in the Southern US.
Some maize varieties have both the Bt and Roundup Read genes to fight weeds and pests.
The patents for Roundup have expired, so other companies have begun making comparable products using glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient. But the Roundup Ready gene remains Monsanto's exclusive intellectual property.
Kathy Sehnert, who is a Monsanto biologist, said the company's scientists constantly ask questions about long-term effects, and that genetically altered plant varieties are "rigorously tested" before coming on the market.
She also said that the company intends to continue experimenting and developing new ways to grow crops.
"Our concern is how to feed a growing world population," Sehnert said. "Biotech is just a piece of the puzzle of how to get enough food and maintain a safe environment."
Monsanto, with annual revenue of more than US$5 billion, is one of the leading biotech research companies in the world. The company employs 2,500 people in its laboratories and greenhouses in St. Louis on the Mississippi River.
Most of its employees are working on new products for use on future farms, and one detects a sense of mission on the well-groomed corporate campus.
The long corridors of the headquarters building reveal row after row of laboratories.
Behind one glass door are metal tables, conveyor belts and trays filled with test tubes. Robots handle test tubes, which contain the larvae of insects on which new pesticides are being tested. The few workers wear white lab coats and goggles.
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