Three scientists from Purdue University set out to answer a controversial question: What would happen if genetically engineered (GE) crops vanished from the landscape? Their resulting study, funded by the California Grain & Feed Association, came to some stark conclusions. If all GE crops were banned -- a total of 447 million acres across 28 countries, farmed by 18 million farmers -- yields would decline, food prices would rise, and more land would be converted to cropland to make up for the difference, the scientists concluded. According to a Purdue news release, the researchers came to their conclusions by using a Purduedeveloped economic modeling system called GTAP-BIO, designed to examine "economic consequences of changes to agricultural, energy, trade and environmental policies." In the U.S. alone, corn yields would fall by 11.2%, soybeans by 5.2%, and cotton by 18.6%, the scientists concluded. They estimated that nearly 250,000 acres of forest and pasture would need to be used for farming to make up the difference in the U.S. Globally, the number of new farmland acres would climb to 2.7 million. The model also estimated that as corn and soybean prices rose due to falling crop yields, food prices would move 1% to 2% higher.
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