September 6, 2010

Czech Republic's GM corn yields fall

This year, a total of only 4,680 hectares with genetically modified (GM) corn were registered, indicating a 28% drop on-year, according to Czech Republic's ministry of agriculture.

Farmers say the main reason for the drop was the problematic sales of this type of corn which must be strictly separated from classic corn production and labelled as GM organism.

In the EU, the first lines of GM corn were approved in 1997. Spain became Europe's first country to use it. Today, 79,269 hectares of Spanish corn production, is genetically modified.

Aside from Czech Republic, production is also now taking place to a lesser extent in Portugal and Germany.