In 1961, 20-year-old Jerry Brown bought 667 acres in Ferguson Township for $25,000 and planted his first season's crop of corn and soybeans.

In the white house down the dirt lane off of West Gatesburg Road, he and wife, Shirley, raised one daughter, three sons and eight grandchildren.

For nearly half a century, Brown has woken up at 3:30 in the morning to milk his cows. He has planted "all the fields you can see out the kitchen window" and, in the process, has accumulated 18 tractors, including one from 1951.

Last year, 31-year-old Sunil Patel moved in down the road and planted a 1.5-acre organic garden, off which he fed the 65 members of Greenmoore Gardens. Patel, who planned to study anthropology in graduate school before he discovered his love for the land, worked 13 hours per day June through October, stopping to eat bursts of pizza and cookies in his single-bedroom home.

The Browns are the norm, and Patel is the anomaly of Centre County agriculture, down to the seed.

During the past decade, farmers have been thrown into an international debate. They must decide between genetically modified seeds and traditional seeds. About 90 percent of Centre County farmers, including the Browns, choose technological innovation over tradition. Advertisement

Genetically modified plants are manipulated in the lab to contain at least one gene, or biological trait, from another species. The new trait makes the plant tolerant of herbicides or resistant to certain pests or viruses. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, genetically engineered crops have been "widely and rapidly" adopted nationwide since their introduction in 1996. In 2009, 91 percent of soybeans and 68 percent of corn grown in the U.S. was genetically modified to be herbicide resistant.

The Browns have always used Pioneer brand corn seeds.

"They work," Jerry said. "I stick with them because I try to use the best." Pioneer - which is now owned by Dupont, the second largest seed maker in the world after Monsanto - has changed since Brown first bought the seeds five decades ago. Pioneer began to genetically engineer its kernels in the early 1990s.

Though popular, genetically modified plants are controversial, and a growing group of local organic farmers, such as Patel, are avoiding the new technology. Ted Jaenicke, a professor of agricultural economics at Penn State, estimates that the organic sector in Pennsylvania is increasing by about 20 percent per year.

Organic produce does not contain genetically modified traits or chemical herbicides or pesticides.

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