solquin

1) How are most transgenes inserted? Viral infection?

2) Can you predict what the biggest obstacle that needs to be overcome is before next-gen GMO crops become the norm? Is it identifying the correct genes/specific alleles necessary to confer drought resistance or whatever, or is it going to be incorporating these genes into the target genome without making unwanted alterations to the resulting plant?

3)In your estimation, how long until a farmer can custom-order a variant of most crops that is optimized for the climate he or she works in?

4)If you aren't part of big ag, you may not know this one. How much of Monsanto's business model relies on the sale of Round-Up? In other words, would it be economically viable for them to sell seeds for climate resistance, which do not require further purchases, or would this model require seed prices to be too high?

Yes, stuff is becoming Roundup-resistant. But, for the most part, herbicides are a necessary part of large scale farming, and most of the other options are worse. So we can either 1) use Roundup for now, hope research brings us something new, and if not, go back to the more dangerous herbicides when we have to, or 2) just go back to the more dangerous herbicides now.