The controversy over genetically modified seeds appears to have had little impact on farm planting decisions this year as the spring planting season draws to a close in the Upper Midwest. Interviews with farmers and seed sellers suggest that Minnesota and Wisconsin farmers are planting about the same percentage of modified seeds as they did in 1999. That means more than 50 percent of the soybeans and more than one-third of the corn will be grown from seeds that were modified to help the farmers cope with insects or weeds.

Concerns over genetically modified organisms have centered on issues of trade, big business and science. But for Duane Adams of rural Hutchinson, the decision to plant GMO seeds didn't take much head-scratching. Most of the corn in his area between Hutchinson and Cosmos in central Minnesota is used as cattle feed by local farmers, he said, or is used to process ethanol fuels.

"There's a lot of emotionalism over new science, but I haven't heard anyone say they won't drive around with GMO corn in their gas tank," he said.

Late last year, a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey of early planting
intentions suggested that American corn farmers would slightly reduce GMO planting for corn, soybeans and cotton. The modest retreat from GMO planting likely changed as farmers lined up their last seed purchases, said Joe Schieber, a farmer and Pioneer Hi-Bred seed dealer in Caledonia in southeastern Minnesota.

Some of the early planned cutbacks came from farmers opting for lower-cost, nonmodified seed, he said. But as the winter progressed, weather concerns around the world strengthened corn and soybean prices in futures contracts traded at commodity exchanges.

With prospects improved for making money on corn and soybeans, "farmers started going for the yields," Schieber said. They began ordering more seed varieties that were insect resistant or compatible with efficient weed killing chemicals.

In Golden Valley, preliminary marketing results show that 65 percent of the corn seed bought from Novartis Seeds this year contained the Bt gene to help farmers fight corn borer infestations. That's down 2 percentage points from last year's 67 percent Bt market share at Novartis, the company said.

Des Moines-based Pioneer, the largest seed company and now a unit of the DuPont chemical and life sciences firm, hasn't assembled sales data for this year yet, company spokesman Doyle Karr said. But preliminary queries of the sales department show only a slight decline from last year's GMO use, he added.

Farmers began planting GMO crops in 1996. GMO varieties of corn, soybeans and the smaller oilseed crop of canola were a significant portion of the crops planted in 1998. That year also saw multinational chemical and pharmaceutical companies consolidate most of the major North American seed companies into life science companies to combine seed genetics with related biology and chemistry fields.

Perhaps more than the introduction of new science itself, the global mergers and acquisitions attracted public attention, and people began wondering what biotechnology was all about, said Doug Magnus, a soybean farmer from Slayton, Minn.

Consumer, environmental and other groups began pressuring the European Union to block imports of agricultural commodities produced from genetically modified seeds. EU regulators have given approval for importation of about half the GMO-produced crops grown in North America, South America and parts of Europe itself.

Members of the Union of Concerned Scientists have raised questions about proper government regulation and the release of GMOs into commercial use. Chief among concerns are proper testing to see if modified foods create allergen problems or if modified plants might cause mutations in other plant life surrounding the crops.

Magnus, vice chairman of the United Soybean Board national trade
association, said farmers indicated they were concerned last fall that they might lose markets if they grew GMO crops.

That concern largely ended, however, when Cargill Inc. issued a statement last December saying its policies hadn't changed; it would buy corn and soybeans at its country grain elevators and mills regardless of the seeds the farmers used. "That pretty much ended the debate for farmers, for at least another year," Magnus said.

Linda Thrane, spokeswoman for Minnetonka-based Cargill, said the December announcement was issued because the company was growing weary answering media questions about its GMO policy. Many of the inquiries were coming from media that doesn't usually cover the company and didn't know Cargill's previous positions, she said.

Looking back, the company's statement did give farmers confidence about markets when they sat down during the winter months to make seed purchasing decisions, she said.

Farmers are restricted in how they use the seeds so they will never have 100 percent use of the GMOs. For instance, the Bt corn must have a 20 percent "refuge" around the fields to protect other insects and help prevent insects from mutating into Bt resistance.

Seed salesman and farmer Schieber said farmers are not likely to pay the higher cost for enhanced seeds if they haven't had historic problems with corn borers or problems managing their weeds.