Genetically Modified foods, or GM foods, can be genetically modified with many different goals in mind. This can be for a faster maturation time or it could be for insect resistance, drought resistance, higher yeild, etc.
Most GMO foods today are genetically manipulated to be resistant to herbicides or to produce an insecticide within the plant itself. Genetic engineering has no affect on their maturation.
The actual growth of a GMO plant is the same as for a non-GMO plant. For corn and soybeans, they are planted in spring and harvested in late summer or fall.
It depends on how it has been modified and what traits were selected for modification.
Generally they grow at a similar rate to non-modified crops.
No, GMO foods do not grow faster.
GMO stands for a Genetically Modified Organism.
GMO foods are grown very much like non-GMO that are not being grown organically. The big difference is that some of the crops have been engineered to have resistance to herbicides like Round-up. For those crops, the herbicide can be sprayed directly on the crop without killing it; whereas, it cannot be sprayed directly on the non-GMO crops. Other crops have been genetically engineered to produce a substance that kills insects when they eat the plant. In that case, those growing GMO crops theoretically would not need to use pesticides, or at least not as many pesticides, as those who grow non-GMO crops.
GMO's = Genetically Modified Organisms. Which means that in a organism the natural genetic make up is altered in a way that is not natural for the organism using genetic engineering. In the GMO's the alteration are occurred for some noble purposes like the desired product from the organism is increased or the survivability strain is increased. The GMO's goes with plant and animals also. Like the GMO eggplant which is resistant to a specific insect.
GMO foods last about the same amount of time as non-GMo foods.
One problem GMO crops pose for farmers who do not grow them is cross pollination of GMOs in non-GMO crops, especially those that are grown organically.
No, GMO seeds cannot be heirloom seeds, and they cannot be saved from year to year to plant the following year. There are a few reasons for this: GMO seeds are transgenic (meaning a gene has been removed from one organism and inserted into another in a lab) and heirloom seeds are not transgenic, GMO seeds are patented and saving them from year to year is a violation of that patent whereas heirloom seeds can be saved for planting the following year, heirloom seeds have been grown for decades, often longer and GMO seeds were introduced fairly recently (1996 was the first commercially planted GMO crop).
In the United States, genetically modified foods have been declared to be "substantially equivalent" to non-GMO foods, so there are no differences in how they are grown. There are recommendations for GMO farmers to plant barriers of non-GMO crops to cut down on cross pollination of their crops with non-GMO crops, but these are just recommendations and are not enforced.
Some say science shows that GMO foods have no bad effects on human health. Others say the effects they have on human health have not been determined, and that there is reason to believe they have detrimental effects to health. The truth is that the effects that GMO foods have on health, good or bad, are probably not known.
The vast majority of GMOs are developed to be resistant to herbicides or to produce a substance in the plant itself that kills insects when eaten. GMO foods, as far as is known, last no longer than non GMO foods.
GMO foods are not healthier for you. In fact, there are concerns and anecdotal evidence that they could actually cause health issues. Except for Golden Rice, which was created to produce Vitamin A, and possibly a few others, many genetic modifications are not made to make the plant healthier or more nutritious as a food, but to be resistant to herbicides, create a substance that kills insects in the plant itself, or for other traits that have nothing to do with making them healthier. Some argue that GMO foods actually have negative effects on health. Even the claims that Golden Rice provides Vitamiin A in quantities that is actually beneficial has been questioned.
No advantages of GMO foods are known, except for the farmers who grow them and the companies that engineer them.