Last week Monsanto tried to cheer itself up by having published a report it had commissioned on 9 years of GM farming, which claimed GM crops had been an unmitigated success.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5825

By way of retort, here's our take on land agent Mark Griffith's amazing collection of links to articles and reports on the farming problems with GM crops - 1996-2005.

Mark's page is an amazing resource for anyone following agronomic issues. Here's just a small selection of some of the more recent items on the page.

NB just about all these come from the farming press, USDA data and reports, scientific research, etc.

JUST KEEP SCANNING DOWN THE PAGE!
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Will GM crops deliver benefits to farmers?
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmagric.htm

MIXED OR NEGATIVE FINANCIAL IMPACTS
"Perhaps the biggest issue raised by these results is how to explain the rapid adoption of GE crops when farm financial impacts appear to be mixed or even negative."
'The Adoption of Bioengineered Crops'
US Department of Agriculture Report, May 2002
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/usdagmeconomics.htm

Glyphosate resistance is spreading as the extensive use of Roundup Ready crops continues:

WHAT'S SCARY IS IT'S SPREADING SO FAST
"The [glyphosate] resistant type [of horseweed] was first discovered in Delaware in 2000. In 2001, it was found in western Tennessee. In 2002, it was found in Missouri and Arkansas. What's scary is exactly a year after discovery it was already widespread in Delaware. The same pattern was seen in Tennessee. The first time I started seeing it while driving around Missouri was in 2003. The last couple of years, phone calls to me on this weed have been heavy."
Andy Kendig, Missouri Extension weed specialist
No quick cures for glyphosate-resistant weeds
Delta Farm Press, 27 September 2005
http://deltafarmpress.com/news/050927-glyphosate-resistant/

MAJOR YIELD LOSSES AND HARVEST HEADACHES
"Palmer pigweed that is not killed by glyphosate will cause major yield losses and harvest headaches for soybean, cotton and other row crop producers....It is essential to use more than one herbicidal mode of action on your fields."
Professor Tom Mueller, University of Tennessee weed scientist
Tennessee Researchers Confirm Glyphosate-Resistant Pigweed
Business Journal, 24 September 2005
http://bjournal.com/2005/content/article_views.php?ID=756&Author=56

MORE PROBLEMS THAN RR HORSEWEED
"We have been watching these fields since first receiving reports in 2004 of Palmer pigweed not killed by Roundup. Our results last year indicated a very small number of pigweed plants survived our applications, but this year Palmer pigweeds at both locations survived a full 22 ounces of Roundup WeatherMax... we expect resistant Palmer pigweed will pose more problems for producers than horseweed."
Larry Steckel, University of Tennessee Extension weed specialist
Tennessee Researchers Confirm Glyphosate-Resistant Pigweed
Business Journal, 24 September 2005
http://bjournal.com/2005/content/article_views.php?ID=756&Author=56

THE FARMERS FOLLOWED INSTRUCTIONS
"The fields were in continuous, Roundup Ready cotton for many years - at least from the late 1990s on. Roundup was the primary weed control on them although there have been some post-directed chemistries on them as well.... Were rates and sprayings properly applied?... To my knowledge, correct, full-label rates were used... I just did an informal survey of some retailers and, in the last year, they believe around 90 percent of our cotton had a pre-emerge (herbicide) put on. Primarily, the reason for that was control of glyphosate-resistant horseweed."
Larry Steckel, University of Tennessee Extension weed scientist
Glyphosate-tolerant pigweed confirmed in West Tennessee
Delta Farm Press, 23 September 2005
http://deltafarmpress.com/news/050923-tolerant-pigweed/

INFERIOR YIELDS FROM GM MAIZE
A controlled trial has found inferior grain yields from Bt maize compared with their non-GM genetic counterparts (Field Crops Research 93: 199-21, September 14, 2005): "There are concerns over the economic benefits of corn (Zea mays L.) hybrids with the Bt trait... We found that some of the Bt hybrids took 2–3 additional days to reach silking and maturity, and produced a similar or up to 12% lower grain yields with 3–5% higher grain moisture at maturity, in comparison with their non-Bt counterpart."
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_aset=V-WA-A-W-B-MsSAYZW-UUW-U-AAWDAWCAEU-AAWVDUCEEU-WEVUVCCEE-B-U&_rdoc=1&_fmt=summary&_udi=B6T6M-4DRBBYB-1&_coverDate=09%2F14%2F2005&_cdi=5034&_orig=search&_st=13&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=e231f9b9e88c1e006a9f43cfed840de3

SEED YIELDS DOWN
Seed yields are down from US GM cotton varieties (Delta Farm Press 18 August 2005):
"Cottonseed removed in the ginning process repre