Growers returning to unaltered crops

High sale prices of non-GMO yields have many buying conventional seeds

ST. LOUIS -- Five years ago, Dan Beyers took his farm in a new direction. Or, rather, back in an old direction. The Pana, Ill.-area farmer had been using corn and soybean seeds genetically modified to work with glyphosate -- the generic name for Monsanto's signature Roundup herbicide. But he reached a point at which he said it no longer made sense from a dollars standpoint.

So he turned his back on GMO crops.

"As they added more traits, we didn't really see a yield advantage. And every time they added a trait, they added cost," said Beyers, who said he also worries that GMO seeds could be damaging his soil.