By the year 2100, the Earth’s population is expected to increase to more than 11.2 billion from the current 7.6 billion. What is the best way to produce enough food to feed all these people? If we continue with current farming practices, vast amounts of wilderness will be lost, millions of birds and billions of insects will die, farm workers will be at increased risk for disease, and the public will spend billions of dollars as a consequence of environmental degradation. But there is a way we can resolve the need for increased food production with the desire to minimize its impact. [...]
Modern genetic methods introduce more precise changes to genes. These include genetic engineering (soon to be labeled as “bioengineered”), which allows the introduction of genes from one species into another; marker-assisted breeding, which facilitates introduction of genes using molecular techniques; and genome editing, which allows for targeted insertions, deletions, or replacement of DNA sequences. These approaches have led to the creation of rice plants that can withstand floods, insect-resistant crops that don’t have to be treated with chemical insecticides, and dairy cows without horns. Genetic engineering has also been used to create life-saving drugs (like insulin) and enzymes for cheeses. In fact, approximately 90% of US cheeses are made with genetically engineered enzymes. If you like your cheeses, you’re already eating ingredients from bioengineered organisms.[...]
As the climate changes, the development of crops that are resilient to extreme conditions (such as heat, drought, and flooding) will be increasingly important. For example, rice grows well in standing water, but most varieties will die if they’re submerged for more than three days. In south and southeast Asia, where many farmers and their families live on less than $2 a day, 4 million tons of rice—enough to feed 30 million people—is lost every year to flooding. Using a combination of sequencing, genetic engineering, and marker-assisted breeding, our team developed rice varieties that are tolerant of 18 days of flooding. Last year, 6 million farmers grew this “Sub1” rice.
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