> but have new pesticides or genetic engineering really increased yields
over the
older pesticides and non GMO-hybrids?

The data that I've seen certainly suggest so.  But as far as GE crops,
there have not been any yet approved specifically to increase yields, so
that was a rhetorical question.  The anti-GMO activists have made it too
expensive for university scientists to get their precision engineered
cultivars through the regulatory process, meaning that only Monsanto, et
al, have the money to do so.

The two main GE traits used to date are for herbicide resistance and pest
protection--neither of which is specifically designed to increase yields,
nutritional value, or other desirable traits.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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