EU-U.S. Trade: A Tale Of Two Farms
(Editor's note: U.S. and EU officials begin talks Monday on an ambitious free-trade agreement that promises to create thousands of new jobs and generate billions of dollars of new trade. But negotiators must overcome barriers created by cultural and philosophical differences over sectors like agriculture. One example, in Europe the cultivation of genetically modified crops is banned, while in the U.S., they are a central part of agricultural production. NPR's Jackie Northam visited a farm in Delaware and NPR's Eleanor Beardsley one in Burgundy, France, to look at just how deep-seated some of these differences are.)
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A ferocious noon sun beats down on Richard Wilkins as he traverses long rows of corn at his farm in Greenwood, Del. The tall, healthy stalks bow slightly to a gentle breeze that does little to ease the heat. He's expecting a relatively good corn yield this year. He first started farming more than 40 years ago. He began planting genetically modified crops - corn, soybeans, alfalfa - in the mid-1990s. Since then, Wilkins has become a true believer, he calls them genetically enhanced crops.
"This is an advancement in science that's good for mankind, it's good for the planet," he says. "It's something that myself as a farmer, ecologist, environmentalist, I've embraced it as being a better way for us to grow our food."
Wilkins says he's embraced GMOs as being a better way for us to grow food.
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