Genetically modified crops could become marginalized due to consumer rejection and technical difficulties in developing new products, environmental group Friends of the Earth said on Tuesday according to Reuters. "The biotech industry seems to be running out of new ideas, with the decline in the number of GM crop field trials and a return to conventional breeding for some of its most promising new crops," the report said. The report noted the possibility that "transgenic plant technologies will fade in importance as technical difficulties in the development of multi-gene traits and consumer rejection continue to block the introduction of new GM varieties." Friends of the Earth also said GMO crops had done little to ease hunger in the world, noting they are overwhelmingly grown in and exported to rich nations. "By and large, the poorer farmers of the world cannot afford to purchase imported soymeal or maize (whether GM or not) to feed their livestock," the report said. Friends of the Earth also expressed concern that small farmers in Argentina and Paraguay had been evicted from lands by large landowners to make room for a huge expansion in soybean cultivation - most of it GMO.
