Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 7

The Future of Agriculture: Genetics

By Elaine Demopolis

A need for food


Imagine a world with double the size of the current population. Sickness and starvation in what used to be first-world countries now dominate the news with their omen of desolation lingering in the shadows of what the countries used to be. Food becomes much more of a treasure as the gap widens between those who can afford abundance and those who appreciate its scarcity. The environment is tortured as space becomes harder to find and the soils are reaped of their vitamins. As this scenario may become a reality in the next 50 years, we must address the prevailing question: how can we create a world that is better prepared to handle a greater need for food? Genetically-modified (GM) foods could be the savior of the century. The term GM foods refers to crop plants that have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits with the purpose of human and animal consumption1. This is not a new idea humans have been choosing and enforcing which traits they prefer in their crops since the dawn of agriculture through traditional plant breeding. Not only does genetic engineering substantially reduce the time

needed to achieve a plants desired version, but its potential is much vaster. We are now able to locate a gene in one plant that is responsible for drought tolerance and insert that gene into another plants genetic code. With this kind of capability, humans are given the power to enhance any organism they want into the perfect crop.

Changing how we grow our food


Now that we have this potential, what changes in regards to how we grow our food? The first problem that plant geneticists are addressing is the huge trouble that arises from insect pests and diseases. The agricultural sectors of a lot of countries make up a considerable part of both their GDPs and their populations, emphasizing the threat that epidemic pests and diseases brings to their economies. One case done by Ugandas Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry & Fisheries focuses on this threat on agriculture locally in Uganda, where agriculture makes up 38% of GDP and employs 80% of the population2. However, their average crop losses unfortunately are at 50% and losses can rise to even 90% in the harvest periods. For example, the Banana Bacterial Wilt disease kills close to 94% of the banana crops in some areas of Uganda, yielding financial losses of about $34 million in 2005. This example of loss is staggering to developing countries such as Uganda. Farmers typically resort to treating their crops with chemical pesticides, yet many consumers are wary of the health risks that are associated with pesticide

treatment on their food and that its run-off can poison water supply. Thankfully, GM crops allow farmers to grow plants that are resistant to pests and diseases, providing a hopeful outlook on saving agricultural sectors in developing countries as well as protecting the environment from chemical pesticides. Farmers additionally face the issue of how to remove weeds from their fields. With a lack of cost-effectiveness to physically till the fields, farmers again resort to chemicals to fight nature, which they do by destroying the weeds with herbicides. It is a careful process that necessitates spraying a lot of different kinds of herbicides on their fields without harming the crops or the environment. Genetic engineering can change crops so that they are resistant to herbicides, decreasing the amount of herbicides needed to treat a field while protecting the environment from dangerous run-off. For instance, GM soybeans were recently created by the biotechnology corporation Monsanto, and they are resistant to the herbicide Roundup, reducing the number of herbicide applications to just one application1. Once again, GM crops allow farmers to improve how they grow our food while being cost-effective and environmentally conscious.

Changing where we can grow our food


As humans continue to expand and space becomes less available, it has become necessary to find new places to grow our food. After all, where are we supposed to fit all the new fields we are going to need to accommodate the

coming population boom? As Mars colonization and vertical farming continue to need development before they can address the issue, we should focus on a solution with more likelihood: GM crops. With GM crops we can cheat the destructive weather that the environment throws at us and even conquer long-term climate. Previously, frost, drought, and salinity severely held back the potential of agriculture by killing crops or preventing their sprouting from the beginning. California is currently suffering from the worst drought since the state started keeping records and in February, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced that California would not get any irrigation water this upcoming summer3. The state is the largest agricultural producer in the U.S. with hundreds of thousands of acres of the most fruitful farmland in Central Valley, yielding 11% of the U.S. agricultural sectors total income according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This announcement indicates higher food prices nationally, with retail prices for tomatoes, lettuce, and broccoli already rising at least 10% in the past year. As the drought increases prices and consumers become frustrated, the opportunity for GM foods to solve the crises arises. GM crops with defensive genes of drought tolerance can be planted in drought-ridden areas such as California to combat the weather. GM crops can even be created with a salinity tolerance so that a high salt content in the soil that previously made land inhospitable to grow crops is no longer an issue. As

for how to prevent unanticipated frost from killing seedlings, geneticists looked to the DNA of cold water fish for an antifreeze gene. When the gene was isolated and inserted into the genes of plants like potatoes and tobacco, the plants could withstand cold temperatures that would have killed the seedlings before2. In the future, we may even be able to expect plants that can thrive anywhere in the world, taking advantage of the large amount of space that without genetic engineering is not possible to grow on.

Is consumption risky or beneficial


As are most new concepts when introduced to society, genetic engineering, especially of our foods, has been attacked by the public and become a controversy. Even with scientists studying the safety of consuming GM foods in every country around the world with the available resources, the public either does not know the conclusions of the research or is hesitant to believe it. A study done to analyze risk perception of GM foods discussed how the perceptions of the risk increased when reporting levels by the media were at their highest4. It also showed that oldest age group perceived the greatest risks and fewer benefits with GM foods while the youngest group perceived the least risks and most benefits. With the media questioning the idea of implementing GM foods into our society, it is not surprising that it has continued to be a public controversy. However, according to a 2004 report from the National Academies of Science, there is no solid evidence that the consumption of GM foods will cause unique harm to the body nor is it risky5.

In fact, GM foods can even be designed to help the body, such as with the well-known example of golden rice. Malnutrition is a significant problem in third-world countries where communities depend on only one crop for substance. Geneticists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences genetically engineered a previously bland crop, rice, to provide extra nutrients and vitamins when consumed1. This strain of GM rice has a high concentration of vitamin A, which when there is a deficiency, it can lead to blindness. Unfortunately, the grant that funded its creation as well as that of a golden rice that would be high in iron content was not renewed. This was most likely due to anti-GM food protesting in Europe, leaving a hiatus in the implementation of GM foods in third-world countries. One risk to keep in mind when transferring genes from one food to another is the possibility that it will begin an allergic reaction when consumed. The idea of inserting a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was put down specifically because it could surprise a consumer with an allergic reaction. Continued research and testing of GM foods will lead to a clearer prediction of whether these reactions will happen. Then again, any method used to create an original crop can lead to an unexpected final version and in turn, new allergens5.

Conclusion
As we look at the benefits that GM foods can bring to our world, it is easy to expect that genetic engineering will guide the future of agriculture. With a reach that extends to how we grow our food to where we can grow our food and the nutrients that we gain from consuming it, genetic engineering has the potential to greatly improve the quality of life in third world countries and save communities from scarcity. As we move forward, we must recognize that although there is still some unknown about how GM foods will affect health and the environment, this revolutionary technology is necessary for the populated future that we are predicting.

References:
1. Whitman, Deborah B. "Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?" ProQuest. N.p., Apr. 2000.
Web. 04 Apr. 2014.

2. "Crop Diseases and Pest Control." Ministry Of Agriculture. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. 3. Cheng, Andria. "California Farm Drought Crisis Deepens." MarketWatch. N.p., 22 Feb. 2014. Web. 05
Apr. 2014.

4. Frewer, Lynn J., Susan Miles, and Roy Marsh. "The Media and Genetically Modified Foods." Wiley
Online Library. N.p., 3 Oct. 2002. Web. 04 Apr. 2014.

5. Rastogi, Nina. "Seeds of Discontent." Slate Magazine. Graham Holdings Company, 18 May 2010.
Web. 05 Apr. 2014.

Вам также может понравиться