GM Crops - good or bad?

GM Crops – What’s your view?

There’s been a lot of controversy around Genetically Modified Crops in recent years. In this episode Olly takes a look at yields and considers the arguments for letting science work with agriculture more.

Our regular contributor to the channel, Rob Mason catches up with Stephen and discusses his preparation plans for the forthcoming lambing season.
Remember that tup he bought at the Lanark Sale a few months ago? Let’s hope he’s been a good investment!

Angela is on a dairy farm in Cheshire and it’s foot trimming day. Harry Hough, doesn’t have long on his council farm tenancy though, so who knows what the future holds for him and his family.
We’ll be seeing Harry again in June though, as he’s responsible for the cattle section at the @royalcheshirecountyshow

#sheepfarming #gmcrops #arablefarming #farming #dairyfarm #dairyfarming #cows #cattle

[haitchhaitch]

We, as food consumers, have been devouring GMO products for nearly 30 years, notably: Tomatoes, potatoes, Maize/corn, beets & notably the artificial sweetener, Aspartame (to name but a few) for 30 years. Why has the British Agri Farming Industries been so slow in openly joining the bandwagon?. I think it’s right to allow the consumer the choice hence keeping Organic Agri GMO free & allow those who want to go down the path of plant improvement via years of cross selection growing to their own devices.
We need to feed a very hungry world effectively & broad spectrum GM foods are the way to go

[EddieRedX]

GM will probably come it’s been talked about for years you can’t halt progress Because the amount of people in this country. But they want to. Concentrate more on food than this stupid rewinding thing they’ve got in there head at the moment all this country needs feeding. Another great video thanks to. Stephen and Rob Mason. And Harry wish them all the luck for the future and keep up. the good work all of you

[BCWilsonLime]

Hi Olly. Steve mentioned what3words. Could you do a feature on it? It’s great for emergency services to find people in remote places. I use it for directing lime wagons to fields.
Keep up the great work on The Real Country File.

[alanw]

GM could be the future of organic farming . I was at a farm meeting in Canada one time and a speaker had commented that a big fast food company had been asked if they would use potatoes that where genetically modified so that they didn't need sprayed for blight . They thought at the time that people wouldn't buy chips genetically modified so they would stay with the spray every 7 days system

[philipspencer]

Olly: GM crops….it’s not what they start with (always good intentions) it’s about the unexpected consequences and then the later developments, which may be less beneficial.

My real concern is that people like Monsanto (or whatever the dominant company will be) starts producing single season seeds (one crop) and completely take control of all production.

Scary…. Perhaps.

[philipgraham]

I totally agree with GM crops, surely it makes sense to breed plants to give their full potential.

[James_Helliwell]

What do you think of more efforts going into breeding perennial cereals. Currently low yielding but great potential in some circumstances.

[lakesfarmer]

Great vid again . . . . But only 9 million people in the world olly??? (2:14) Think u will find there are 7.8 billion lol

[georgeehlers]

Roundup ready is one of benefits of Gm crops reducing the amount of herbicides used and allowing farmers in no till situations to save costs. But weeds are already gaining resistance to Roundup

[robscarlett]

There is GM which adds a gene from another species and Genetic Editing which speeds up selection process but does not introduce other species genes. GE probably has the better PR element and could considered 'safer'.

[teresabrewer]

Olly there is definitely more than 9 million people in this world. I think it's between 8-9 billion. Enjoying your debates today though 👍👍👍

[Steve-mbut]

GM should be an advantage, not just for production but also for the environment.

[jeffree]

The only argument against GM I can think of is it isn't natural. Which isn't really a valid reason not to use it.

[geofffletcher]

There are too many degrees of GM that can be discussed here. Some are straight up and should be done others can put a serious risk into the environment. All GM 'stuff' need serious monitoring by both independant scientific and enviromental experts overseen by a dedicated Government team. Above all the work on GM needs to be transparent to all who have an interest including the general public and media.

[petermcdaid]

Your not allowed to keep back any seed from a GMO crop of any kind, when you buy their seed you must agree to their terms of single crop use, from a herbicide point of view glyphosate has so many resistant weeds that US farmers have to use other herbicides along with glyphosate so the less herbicide argument quickly fades, it’s main selling point is bug resistant seed and higher yields which it has, it has its place but it’s not cheap .they do a very good sales pitch but they don’t mention that their main goal is to control the worlds seed bank, even crops that’s cross pollinates with a GMO crop technically they can claim the rights to that seed for future seeding .a Canadian farmer found that out the hard way

[mrwellington]

The gene editing that is being pushed through commons at the moment is hailed as 'something that can happen naturally'... but the fact is that it absolutely doesn't. GM seed is produced by the same companies that make artificial inputs so they certainly wouldn't want to produce a seed that stops farmers buying their other inputs. I think agriculture is best left alone by these companies and scientists, for the sake of the farmers, the environment and the consumer.

[trevorsidley]

With ever increasing restrictions on pesticides the simplets way to increase yields is GM. Evolution is fundamentally a product of selective breeding. GM utiliseses this.

[davidbuchanan]

R&D costs so companies producing GM crops need to recoup investment + + who pays?

[alunwilliams]

bse in cows should be a warning that we cant mess with nature

[Hill_Walker]

I do love cheap NZ lamb. That's one of the benefits of brexit, customers get to choose the cheaper higher quality option from areas where the farmers aren't suckling on the public purse.