Q. To what degree does the fact that a plant is genetically modified incur additional stress in a plant? What differences do you see in nutritional profiles for GMO crops?

A. We have seen that genetic modification, either through plant breeding or through GMO technology, can lead to a downregulation, or a modified regulation, of nutrient uptake. In other words, a GMO crop, or even a certain hybrid, will be more predisposed to uptaking one or more nutrients. 

For example, a lot of the new varieties of blueberries are extremely sensitive to manganese. Some of the GMO corns need a lot more liquid phosphorus — it’s like bread to them, because they can’t symbiate with mycorrhiza or even, in certain cases, with bacteria. We see that there’s more loss of uptake potential than gain. However, we do see that there’s potential for larger sugar content in some of the newer varieties of apples or berries. So it’s a mixed bag.

Over time, specifically in perennials, that nutrition can be restored year over year. In other words, a variety may not be good at uptaking X mineral, but if it’s fed a systematic protocol, that can get everything out of the way and enable the plant to uptake that mineral. Once that balance is in place, the plant actually has a chance to survive. 

In a nutshell, these plants are more sensitive to various nutritional stressors, unfortunately.