A few weeks ago on my trip to St. Louis I was enlightened and completely intrigued to hear from some of the top people in the food industry talk about GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms). I blogged about it here, and today I wanted to talk about why I am so supportive of using GMO’s on farms across America.
First off the process of getting a biotech trait approved is pretty intense. The USDA process takes 13 to 15 years for one biotech trait. And that trait is tested over and over and over.
A trait is a distinguishing characteristic. Very similar to humans having brown hair or blue eyes. And a GMO’s are plants with traits that are helping us farm more efficiently. For example, last year we had a little something across the Midwest, called a “drought year”. It just so happened we planted a little something called a “drought resistant crop”. Not all of our fields, but we did have a few. This drought resistant crop helped us to grow a crop with little rain because of that special little trait.
Now, this helped us during a drought year…but the another great benefit of having a plant with this trait is what it could mean for climates that are typically more dry.
Technology continues to improve. It allows us to plant our crops in all types of conditions. And this could mean growing crops in places of the world where the environment doesn’t always allow.
It means growing more on less land. As the world’s population continues to grow so does our need to offer more food to feed them.
It means protecting our crops from pest infestations so we will never have to suffer a complete crop loss because of bugs.
By the year 2050 the world’s population is expected to reach 9 billion, which means we will need 70% more food. Biotechnology allows us to farm with less water, less fuel, less fertilizer, and less pesticides.
Biotechnology is sustainability.
Biotechnology is feeding the world.
Next post on GMO’s I am going to be talking about the awesome things that are happening at the Danforth Science Center in St. Louis. There are some very passionate people working there who believe in biotechnology and sustainable agriculture.
Anonymous says
It’s important to feed the world. It’s important to have crops when the weather doesn’t cooperate. It is also true that a trait is a distinguishing characteristic. As you mention it is what has humans having brown hair or blue eyes. Those traits are native to the species.
GMO’s however are not taking the best of two breeds through cross breeding to create a better breed. The GMO process commonly take a trait from a different species and genetically insert that into the cells of a seed to grow a unique plant. A unique plant that would never occur naturally because things like fish and plants don’t cross breed in nature.
Now its possible that our children and generations to come may start cross breeding too. People may benefit from biotechnology giving people gills to breathe underwater or webbed fingers to swim faster. Biotechnology may even take genes from something that handles sugar really well and use it to solve diabetes in humanity.
My concern is that of generations to come. How will we handle the new bugs and bacteria that are resistant to the traits we’ve installed? Will the next generation of biotech food look like the food we eat today? Will big data help solve these concerns before its too late? I hope the balance is in the long game and not the short term gain.
SDFarmWife says
I love the thoughts and the research that you have put into GMO’s and I see your concerns for the future. I think that’s something we all worry about, but not just GMO’s. What about constant technology use? And being attached to it all the time? Smart phones haven’t been around long enough to prove that they aren’t detrimental to our health in the long run. I think that either way you look at it you can find negatives to both sides. And I think looking at future generations is very important too. Especially the fact that our world’s population is growing more and more every year. And GMO’s allow us to feed that ever growing population by allowing us to grow more crops on less land. Which means that as the population grows and continues expand outside our cities to live on farm land we can, hopefully, find a way to feed them in years to come. Thanks so much for your comments I love hearing what you think!
P Oshita says
Our future generations of children will never experience the wonderful diversity of flavors that God previous gave us because of the soil depletion and GMO products created by man for corporate profits.
Morgan says
Thank you for your comment! I appreciate you stopping by to share your thoughts. But, one thing I feel confident about is in GMOs and what they mean for our future generation. They allow us to feed more people on less land, and as a constantly growing world this is something that is very scary to me. And with GMOs I just feel safer knowing that we will have enough crops to feed the growing world. And I think that no matter what type of farming we are doing, soil depletion is something that we keep on our minds. We want to be able to provide for future generations…therefore, soil conservation and preservation are super important.