Essay about Biotechnology Seed Agreeance

Agronomists have been working on these problems for years, but the rapid population growth of humans makes overcoming these challenges increasingly urgent. If we can’t feed the world, it will eventually feed on us.” (Newsweek/United Nations) Scientists find a way to add “medicine” to plant genes, which help it withstands pest attacks and drought problems.“Some GMO corn crops can protect harvests in water-limited conditions better than conventionally produced crops. Other GMOs can also promote use of no-till farming, which keeps more moisture in the soil. No-till also enables farmers to make fewer passes through the field using machinery, which means less fuel used and greenhouse gases emitted.”(Monsanto) GMOs are useful for helping with planting crops in any area of the world.

Secondly, increased shelf life of genetically modified foods will enable it to be shipped to distant locations and cut costs as well as minimize waste to consumers. These foods are modified to be pesticide and herbicide tolerant, resulting in less use of chemical sprays; reducing soil contamination and pollution. In addition, genetically modified crops are more resilient, weather tolerant and capable of surviving in adverse climates such as droughts and extremely cold weather (Whitman, 2000).

Rising GM foods such as B.t. corn can aid to remove the use of chemical pesticides and decrease the price of transporting crops to the market. A specific fascinating pro of genetically modified foods is how they can be encoded to be drought and cold resistant. By creating drought resistant seeds, even in the worst weeks of the dry season, or even in the driest parts of Africa, these crops will grow regardless the situation. This is a huge development of technology and science when it comes to creating this kind of foods. Being cold resistant is also a fascinating innovation instead of the modern growing season being in the summertime months, winter weather can also be a productive time for agriculturalists. This means more harvest and more income for framers.

In this process, plants are made by taking the gene trait from one plant, intentionally copying and applying it to another plant. The cells of the new plant are able to make a new protein or modify the genetic structure and function of an existing protein. This creates properties or "traits" which are not naturally occurring. The purpose of this is to increase resistance to weeds, pesticides and adverse weather conditions, such as drought, in order to amplify crop yields and mass produce fruits and vegetables which ripen and can be harvested at the same time. Farmers and industrial food companies are thriving and certainly more people are being fed, and this is a good

GMOs can help feed the future. The reasoning for this is because GMOs are capable of surviving the harsh conditions of the environment, so farmers have the capability to preserve water and energy in order to feed the future. Furthermore the article “GMOs and the Environment” mentions that “the total land devoted to agriculture around the globe is 20,000,000 square miles. That’s more than five times the area of the united states. The availability of farmland is essential to agricultural production. And yet, the availability of new land suitable for crop production is limited”(3). This key information shows the true importance of agriculture land and how this land will play a vital role ,but it is limited for the sheer fact that farmland is

GMO foods enhanced a crop protection because a protein is made to kill certain insects when they feed on the plants. This advancement increases crop protection so more crops will live. There has also been improvements to the food process as well as the stock the markets. the more products grown the lower the value because the super markets will began to become to get overwhelmed with food item.

After world war 2 about 70 years ago, scientists bred of corn and rice. These new crops helped make twice as much grain as earlier crops. This was helpful for poorer countries with growing populations, such as India and Mexico. They were able to make quicker, more food for the people who needed it. This was helpful for avoiding hunger. It solved one problem, but another was created. It led to monoculture of crops. That means that only one type of crop was grown in some places. This hurts the soil and forests by quickly consuming the nutrients in the ground. Biotechnology is good, but after it led to monoculture.

For millennia, humans have implemented the process of selective breeding to produce desired traits in their crops and livestock. The process was simple: if a larger crop was preferred, larger plants were selected to be bred. Despite their limited knowledge of genetics, early humans possessed the ability to shape the genetic makeup of the plants and animals around them to precisely fit their nutritional needs. Most modern fruits and vegetables such as corn, bananas, wheat, and rice were developed through generations of selective breeding of their much smaller, mostly unrecognizable, predecessors. Twelve thousand years after the dawn of agriculture, modern technology has enabled a new way of improving such

They say farmers are becoming more educated on the best farming practices. Also, technological advancements in agriculture like guidance systems on tractors and more efficient combines, is what is causing the increase in yields. Some people have even come to believe that GMO’s threaten the livelihoods of millions of small-scale farmers because they can no longer recycle seed since they have to purchase the seed from private seed companies that cost more money (All Africa). Recycling seed means using a small portion of last year’s crop to plant the next year’s crop. They also fear that GM crops will transfer their new genes to other, non GMO plants (Hutchinson) and that too much of the application of Roundup (the most common herbicide used on GMO’s) can cause damage to the crops. This would mean that non-GMO farmers would be highly impacted by GMO’s and their production would go down.

Firstly, biotechnology used in agriculture produces better tasting fruits or vegetables which can keep the flavour and texture longer. Furthermore, genetically engineered plants have their own built- in pest resistant quality which helps to reduce the amount of unhealthy pesticide used. Other than that, plants which can tolerate any temperatures, either hot or cold temperature and high salts in soil or water is produced by this technology. This technology too helps in producing vaccines for certain diseases at a lower cost. Biotechnology is even used to recycle, treat waste and clean up the sites which are contaminated by industrial

One of the many potential that GMOs are expected to achieve in the up and coming years is the ability to grow food in harsh conditions and unsuitable conditions. For example in china half the cotton grown in 2002 was genetically modified to produce a substance that is

Genetically modified crops can be used in a variety of ways to make the everyday lives of everyone easier and better. There are a number of ways that crops could be genetically modified to become more resilient to a number of things and generally improve their health. One of these ways is making them more resilient to drought and flooding, making them able to hold and store more water as well as make them more prone to not absorbing too much water is their is an abundance in the area. A second way would be making them more resistant to pesticides and the pests themselves. This would mean making the crops secrete something that would repel insects, and for the insects that can't be repealed it would mean making the crops more immune to pesticides so they could be used to keep the insects out while not poisoning the plant at the same time. Of course, with all that genetic modification there are many things that could go wrong with the process making the crops unsuitable or even poisonous to humans. One of these things is possible cross contamination, which means that there is a possibility that the crops could breed with each other and produce crops that have genetic instability or traits that weaken the crop itself. Some crops may even cross breed with weeds

Many argue that developing genetically modified crops in third world countries would be a positive impact not only economically, but environmentally. “Biotechnology is one of the tomorrow's tools in our hands today.

In a world with information just a keystroke away literally at the fingertips of anyone interested it’s easy to get overwhelmed and in some cases get confused or even misled. With the aid of biotechnology, todays agricultural producers are able to increase yields through pest resistant crops. Biotechnology in agriculture, or more specifically transgenic crops are produced when a specific gene within the plant (in some cases animal) is turned on or off within the respective organism in order to garner the desired result; this often includes anything from pest or drought resistance in crops, to longer growing seasons for salmon. Essentially Agricultural Engineering is the manipulation of farm power and farm machinery for production of crop and animals (Mada). Yet, the idea of changing the genetics of plants or animals to increase their productivity started with the first attempts of farming crops for food; this idea all stems from the idea of sustainability. Whether they label it or not farmers and ranchers are all striving to care for their land and keep their legacy going for future generations. Farmers and ranchers alike understand and respect what nature has given them and they do the best they can to keep their land in the best shape possible all while providing sustenance for as many as possible. Personally I know this feeling first hand; working with my father and uncle on the same land that my

The short-term of using GMO’s allows the decrease in cost of food production as well as providing an unlimited amount of food without the need of so much water use. With the innovation of science to insert a plant’s gene from another specie of plant or even from a virus or bacteria, can multiple food growth twice as fast as a regular process of crop. The long-term benefits of GMOS due to climate change provide ways of growing food “That produce higher yields, grow in dry and salty land, withstand high and low temperatures as well as tolerate insects, disease and herbicides (Freedman 2).