Hello, I am a sixth grade student in Sacramento, CA . I am preparing for a project/presentation for my Science class. The project is titled, “An Exploration of a Sustainable World.” The topic I choose to do a presentation about is Genetically Modified Foods (GMOs). I will be presenting on how and why GMOs can help sustain food supplies on a global level. As part of my project I need to reach out to an expert in the field for an interview. I read some of the information on your blog and thought you would be a great person to ask some of my questions. I put together some questions I would like to ask you and have included them below. My presentation is only 4-10 minutes long and I know you are very busy but if you could please respond with some brief but up-to-date information/answers I would really appreciate it.
1. What can GMOs seeds/plants provide in order to help sustain the World’s food supply?
2. On a global level, what do you see as one the biggest positive regarding the use of GMO seeds/plants? Is there a specific project or success story you can share?
3. What do you consider the actual prospects in the future of GMO seeds/plants?
Thank you very much for taking the time to assist me with my project, I greatly appreciate it.
Sincerely, Jessica
Jessica,
Thank you so much for your questions! I’m very happy to hear that you want to present about GMOs in a presentation dedicated to sustainability. I will start out my response to you, however, by letting you know that I am far from an expert! I’m just a farmer’s daughter writing about my experience on the farm and explaining the choices we’ve made. However, I do think that it’s important farmers are included in these types of discussions, so I will happily answer your questions with that disclaimer. I will also try to include lots of links to scientific sources within my answers, so be sure to click on the links!
1. What can GMOs seeds/plants provide in order to help sustain the World’s food supply?
Higher yields. Here’s the thing: the world’s population is growing and that means we’re going to have a lot of hungry tummies to fill. By the year 2050, it is expected that there will be 9 billion people on Earth. To put that into perspective, right now, the Earth is home to just over 7 billion people. We will need to produce a lot more food to feed an additional 2 billion people! In fact, if you take all the food that was produced all around the world in the year 2008 and double it, you would have enough food to meet the projected demand in 2050.
Genetically engineered crops can help us increase our yields in a number of ways. The first way is one that we are using right now – they make us more efficient. Since the widespread adoption of Round-Up Ready varieties of corn, soybeans, and sugar beets, the use of herbicide has decreased. At the same time our yields have increased by 22%! Overall, our cost of inputs has decreased as well. On average, farmers have to put on less applications of pesticides, so that means we’re using our tractors less and burning less fossil fuels, which helps combat problems of global warming.
There is also a lot of untapped potential available. Farmers face a few different obstacles to producing our crop each year. Biotechnology has the potential to help us with some of those problems. For example, we do not currently irrigate any of our field corn or soybeans. Irrigation equipment can be expensive and, quite frankly, most of our farms do not have a ready source of water, such as a pond, for us to use as irrigation. Some growing seasons this can be a big problem. Just a couple years ago, we had quite a drought in Michigan and that definitely hurt our crops and yields. But imagine if a genetically engineered crop could produce plants that were resistant to drought or needed less water to thrive! That type of technology could allow us to keep yields high, even when we don’t have a perfect growing season (and we rarely do!).
2. On a global level, what do you see as one the biggest positive regarding the use of GMO seeds/plants? Is there a specific project or success story you can share?
Personally, I love hearing stories about how biotechnology is helping people in third world countries, particularly when those people are struggling to make ends meet. We see examples of this technology helping out people in India, Uganda, and Nigeria. These are real examples of the technology helping farmers solve problem across the globe. I think as more and more countries allow biotechnology to be commercially available to farmers, we will see these success stories increase.
You may also want to check out a piece my friend Rhonda at Iowa Meets Maui wrote about Africa and the potential for biotechnology there.
Bonus: I really, really hope that one day Golden Rice can be a success story too. Golden Rice was developed to combat a Vitamin A deficiency that causes children to go blind. This is a really big problem in some parts of the world, where children are not getting enough Vitamin A in the foods they eat. Through biotechnology, Golden Rice produces more Vitamin A than regular rice and could help combat the problem. Unfortunately, anti-GMO activists have tried to prohibit the use and cultivation of Golden Rice because of their unfounded fears.
I also think the use of this technology is fascinating when used in the medical field. Did you know that there are several medicines that are made with GMO technology? For example, the insulin used by people suffering from diabetes is made with biotechnology. The medicine used to treat Ebola patients was also created using biotechnology.
3. What do you consider the actual prospects in the future of GMO seeds/plants?
I think we’re going to see a lot more GMO crops that have direct benefits to consumers. Right now, the Round-Up Ready crops definitely have benefits for farmers. These crops increase our yields, decrease our operating expenses, and (to some extent) decrease the amount of work we have to do. Those things indirectly benefit consumers (lower grocery prices, better environment, etc.), but they do not directly benefit them.
The next wave of GMO technology seems to be going in the opposite direction and provide a direct benefit to consumers. Arctic Apples don’t brown when they’re cut or bumped, so that means apples can more easily be used in fresh food preparation, or cut up and stored. The Innate Potato doesn’t bruise as easily and doesn’t produce acrylamide, a known carcinogen, when fried. There’s also a tomato being produced that may lower your risk of getting cancer. I’m sure you can imagine that these traits would be attractive to consumers. Hopefully, as more and more of these consumer-friendly GMOs become available, people will begin to appreciate the potential of these products.
Of course, all of this assumes that biotechnology is given a chance. There are a lot of really misinformed people that want to scare consumers into believing GMOs are going to hurt them. Hopefully, that won’t happen! That’s one reason why I’m very happy to hear you’re giving this presentation – hopefully people will listen!
If you would like more information, then I suggest you check out Biofortified, GMO Answers, and Genetic Literacy Project. There are lots of scientists that hang out there and would be happy to answer your questions about biotechnology!
But I’m very honored that you thought to ask me, too. Thank you for your question and good luck on your presentation!
