Despite the usual hyperbole about the promise of GM disease resistant crops, hardly any have been commercialized anywhere in the world and some of the biggest claims to success have been exposed as false. Non-GM plant breeding, on the other hand, has achieved success after success. Here are some of the non-GM successes.

Apples

US scientists breed non-GM scab-resistant apple (January 2009)

Beans

Heat, drought and disease tolerant non-GM beans released (June 2010)
And they yield and adapt well too!

High yielding, multi-disease resistant, non-GM bean success in Rwanda (February 2010)
An excellent example of the success of traditional plant breeding practices – multi-disease resistant, very high yielding, no mention of GM and apparently freely distributed without IP ties. What would the GM lobby give for one good success story like this?

Virus-resistant non-GM snap beans in pipeline (August 2009)

Brassicas

Non-GM method to produce virus-resistant brassica crops (November 2007)

Non-GM success in combating cassava mosaic virus in Africa (October 2007)

Cassava

High-yielding disease-resistant non-GM super-cassava for Africa (September 2010)

Scientists closer to developing dual-resistance non-GM cassava (August 2009)

Non-GM virus resistant cassava benefits 1.65 million people in Africa (November 2008)

Non-GM virus-resistant cassava for East and Central Africa (June 2007)

Non-GM solution found for cassava root-rot devastation in Africa (April 2007)

Cocoa

Cameroon hopes non-GM Brazilian fungus-resistant cocoa variety will boost output (September 2010)
Cameroon plans to use a fungus-resistant, high-yielding new cocoa variety developed in Brazil. While this Reuters article claims the variety is GM, it actually is not.

Coffee

Disease-resistant coffee stuck in Ugandan labs for lack of funding (May 2011)

Ugandan scientists announce development of wilt resistant non-GM coffee varieties (April 2009)

Cowpeas

Cowpea

Cowpeas bred for extra-early maturity, high protein and high yield potential with resistance to major diseases and aphids, as well as high levels of tolerance to heat and drought, for tropical and subtropical countries (April 2013)

IITA releases non-GM high-yielding striga-resistant cowpeas in sub-Saharan Africa (March 2009)
Resource-poor cowpea farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have seen their profits jump by 55 per cent thanks to improved cowpea varieties.

Non-GM approach to striga-resistant cowpeas in Africa (July 2007)

Grapes

U.S. grape researcher breeds non-GM vines resistant to Pierce’s Disease (April 2007)

Lettuce

USDA scientists release non-GM lettuce resistant to bacterial leaf-spot (April 2009)

USDA scientists release non-GM lettuce resistant to corky root disease (June 2009)

Maize

Drought-tolerant and striga-resistant non-GM maize released in Ghana (April 2010)
Ghana has released four Quality Protein Maize varieties tolerant of drought and resistant to striga hermontica – a parasitic weed that reduces maize yield – to farmers to boost maize production in drought-prone areas of the country.

IITA (Nigeria) launches new non-GM striga-resistant maize varieties (December 2008)

Napier grass

Disease-resistant Napier grass (fodder crop) for African farmers (April 2013)

Papayas

Researchers develop non-GM papaya resistant to ringspot virus (July 2010)
Despite claims that only GM could deliver this, researchers have developed a papaya resistant to ringspot virus through conventional breeding. The researchers comment, “Application of these results should lead to restoration of the papaya industry in virus-infested regions of the Philippines and worldwide.” GM proponents have repeatedly promoted GM ringspot virus-resistant papayas as the only solution to the problem.

Peas

New disease-resistant pea lines developed (November 2013)

Potatoes

Blight-resistant potato trial a resounding success (video) (2014)

Non-GM potatoes resist potato cyst nematode (PCN) and late blight (April 2014)

Blight-resistant potato developed amid curious absence of publicity (July 2011)

Cornell researchers release non-GM scab- and nematode-resistant potatoes (March 2011)

Two disease-resistant and food manufacturer-friendly potato varieties released (February 2011)

Blight-resistant non-GM potatoes could lower carbon footprint from agricultural sector (July 2010)

Late blight-resistant non-GM potatoes being developed in US (July 2010)

Late blight-resistant non-GM potato improves Andean smallholders’ production (June 2010)

Wild potato germplasm holds key to disease resistance (June 2010)

Rice

“Green Super Rice” is saline-tolerant, drought-tolerant, disease-resistant, and high-yielding without the use of fertilisers and pesticides (November 2014)

Non-GM rice with bacterial leaf blight-resistance genes developed (April 2007)

Sorghum

Africa: researchers start to develop non-GM striga-resistant sorghum (June 2010)

Breeder of non-GM drought-tolerant and striga-resistant sorghum wins World Food Price (2009)

Soy

University of Arkansas releases two non-GMO disease-resistant and sudden death syndrome-resistant soybeans (July 2013)

Brazil to debut non-GM rust-resistant soy (May 2009)

Nigeria to roll out fungus-resistant non-GM soybean crops (August 2009)

High-yielding, soybean cyst nematodes-resistant non-GM soybeans (July 2007)

Sweet potato

New not-so-sweet potato resists pests and disease (June 2011)

Taro

Non-GMO taro resistant to leaf blight ready to go – but being ignored! (October 2010)

Tomato

Organic farmers in Nepal develop heat-tolerant, disease-resistant, high-yield tomato (December 2010)

A Nepali farm specializing in producing organic vegetables has developed nine varieties of tomatoes it says are high-yielding as well as tolerant to disease and heat. The tomatoes, named Srijana (“creation”), will be available in the markets of Kathmandu within a year.

Dutch researcher bred non-GM fungi-resistant tomato (March 2007)

Wheat

New club wheat holds its own against fungal disease (February 2013)

New non-GM wheat variety tolerant to virulent Ug99 fungus – good yields too (April 2012)

Australian researchers develop non-GM wheat lines resistant to crown rot (November 2011)

Fusarium head blight resistant wheat bred from Chinese cultivar (June 2011)

‘Super wheat’ resists devastating rust / Scientists: ‘Super’ wheat to boost food security (June 2011)

Marker assisted selection used to develop non-GM wheat streak mosaic virus-resistant wheat (August 2010)
See: Lu, Huangjun, Jacob Price, J. Rudd, R. Devkota and C. Rush. A dominant gene for resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus in winter wheat line CO960293-2. Crop Sci. (submitted)

Mexican scientists create non-GM disease-resistant wheat (July 2010)
Mexican scientists have developed a new variety of wheat that they say is more resistant to disease, an achievement that will reduce the use of fungicides and increase production of the grain.

Significant progress in developing non-GM wheat resistance against Ug99 stem rust (March 2009)