Biotechnology in agriculture has generated a great deal of controversy in recent years. Of the many scientific advances that have occurred in plant breeding since Gregor Mendel conducted his experiments about 150 years ago, crops with genetic modifications seem to have been accorded a unique status.

The second report from the European Commission on the coexistence of GM crops with conventional and organic farming, published on April 2, 2009. 15 Members States have adopted legislation on coexistence, 11 more than in 2006 when the first coexistence report was published. Another 3 Member States have notified draft legislation to the Commission.

Genetic engineering has been promoted as an important means for dramatically improving the yields of staple food crops, but there is little evidence to support such a claim. In Failure to Yield, the Union of Concerned Scientists provides the most comprehensive evaluation to date of more than two decades of U.S. genetic engineering research and commercialization aimed at increasing crop yield.

The dramatic convergence of multiple crises

Standing Committee on Agriculture, present this Forty-Seventh Report on

The current world food crisis is the result of the combined effects of competition for cropland from the growth in biofuels, low cereal stocks, high oil prices, speculation in food