Agricultural Biotechnology and the Midwestern Agricultural Producer
Michael E. Lawson
and
Ronald G. Stover Donna J. Hess
Both of South Dakota State University
and
Gary A. Goreham George A. Youngs
Both of North Dakota State University
and
Stephen G. Sapp
Iowa State University
Over View
The genetic modification of agricultural plants and animals — agricultural biotechnology — has recently sparked substantial debate. Opinions about agricultural biotechnology range from those suggesting genetically modified organisms (GMOs) should be banned altogether to those strongly supportive of the development of GMOs.While typically thought to be principally a biological and agricultural issue, the debate includes important social dimensions. In contrast to the biological and agricultural sciences’ focus on gene discovery, manipulation, and transfer of agricultural biotechnology, the focus of the social sciences is on the human dimensions. These dimensions include social issues such as the attitudes and perceived concerns about the use of GMOs, economic concerns such as the ease or difficulty of marketing GMOs, and ethical issues such as the moral acceptance of genetic manipulation of plants and animals. To understand fully the societal implications of agricultural biotechnology, it is important to investigate these human dimensions.
Nine Midwest land grant universities and colleges (including four tribal colleges) formed a consortium to investigate the social, economic, and ethical aspects regarding the application of biotechnology to food production and to the adoption or rejection of GMOs. This consortium is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture Initiative for Future Agricultural and Food Systems (USDA-IFAFS). As part of the research activities of the consortium, a questionnaire was mailed to a randomly selected sample of agricultural producers, as well as organic farmers, in five Midwestern states—Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. This report summarizes the responses to all of the questions on that questionnaire.