Genetically Modified Organism (GMO's) and the World's Food Supply

Genetically Modified Organism (GMO's) and the World's Food Supply: "I've been doing a lot of reading about GMOs and 'genetically modified seeds' trying to understand the concept and why it is causing such fierce debate all around the world. To understand the complete story, I decided that I needed to study what has happened over the years in agriculture and food production and specifically with plants and their 'seeds.'

There was a time when people harvested their crops and saved the seeds which they planted the next year. The cycle continued like that 'naturally' year after year. Then, science gave us the 'Hybrid' seed. They figured out how to cross-pollinate plants and select the attributes they wanted for any given year. As a youngster, I sold seeds in the 1950's, I remember the company suggested I explain the advantages of buying Hybrid seeds. I would say to my customers, 'These Hybrid seeds will give you a higher yield and the plants are more resistant to disease and insects.' Farming has pretty much been based on the use of Hybrid seeds since the 1950's. These seeds have been a major factor in the dramatic rise in agriculture output in this country in the last 50 years."