Feeding The Third World Essay

There are several programs in the Muncie area that assist those who are dealing with food insecurity. Some of these programs are: Indiana school breakfast and lunch program, Second Harvest Food bank and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program. These three programs help those who suffer from food insecurity but do so in different ways.

Genetic Engineering has a multiplicity of uses in agriculture. It can be utilized to increase crop output, resistance to pest and diseases, and enhanced growing conditions. Sagoff states “Genetic engineers can help peasant societies by engineering plants and animals to stand up to the challenges of local conditions, such as blights that affect yams and other traditional crops” (14). The article “Biotechnology and Agriculture: The Common Wisdom and Its Critics.” by Sagoff. Discusses how genetic manipulation of crops would be of major benefit in developing countries, primarily because said countries can 't grow enough food to suffice the populous. Genetic manipulation of plants can make food easier to grow in these countries.

Have you ever donated food to a local food bank? If you haven’t or don’t know what a food bank is, I am hoping that you will by the end of this paper. Did you know food banks have their own type of a free market? While reading this article, Sending potatoes to Idaho, I discovered many interesting facts about food banks that I didn’t know. I have learned what a free market is and how foodbanks have been able to apply this economic principle to run more efficiently.

For the last several decades, the world has been plagued by widespread starvation and poverty. Economies are failing in numerous countries, and developing nations struggle to feed their inhabitants. As a result of the world’s mounting overpopulation, food has become scarce and resources are rapidly dwindling. However, modern science has provided a solution: agricultural biotechnology. Genetically engineered crops represent the bright future of agriculture. Crops like cotton, corn, and soybeans can have genes inserted or deleted into their cell membranes; this modification facilitates pest and virus resistance, drought tolerance, and even provides nutritional enhancement. Genetically altered crops produce much higher

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.

“I'm hungry” many of us have said that at least once in our lifetime. Yet what does is really mean to be hungry. Currently 925 million people are starving around the world today. I am sure that most of us do not have to worry about being hungry every day, for twenty four hours, seven days a week. (Opposing Viewpoints). According to Dictionary.com hunger is defeined as, “a feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat.

Genetic engineering is the process whereby new DNA is added or existing DNA is altered in an organism 's genome. This may involve changing one base pair (A-T or C-G) or deleting entire sections of DNA or adding additional copies of a gene. This results in creating new traits that were not previously present in the organism’s genome. This is done to selectively breed desired traits or to create plants with increased resistance to pesticides and increased tolerance to herbicides. For example insulin is a protein that regulates sugar content in our blood and is produced normally in the pancreas. Genetic engineering is used to produce a form of insulin that is similar to yeast and bacterial cells. This genetically engineered insulin is called

Secondly, transgenic food has successfully lowered food prices and ensured food safety, which helps increase production and food supply while reducing the farm labor and pesticide applications, agricultural inputs and production costs (Weasel LH, 2009). In the future, GM crops have great potential in solving the food crisis. For instance, by applying transgenic technology to the human staple foods of rice and wheat, people can increase food production and improve nutritional quality, which will provide mankind with higher-quality food. Furthermore, GM foods have also proved effective in alleviating poverty and hunger. The world’s poorest 50% of the population are small and resource-poor farmers, while 20% living in rural areas without their own land actually depend on agriculture. Therefore, the increase in small-scale and resource-poor farmers’ income will directly assist 70% of the world’s poorest people (Curieux-Belfond O, 2009). So far, genetically modified cotton in

There have been many specific traits that have proved to be extremely beneficial in the agricultural industry. One of these traits is the protection it gives crops when there is little rain in a region. Scientists took the DNA of plants from the desert, and they put them into plants like soybeans or corn. This trait allows farmers to gain a higher yield because they do not lose as many of the crops due to drought. Another one of the extremely beneficial traits is one that eliminates the effects of harmful insects that affect major crops like corn or cotton. Without these insects, farmers will again be able to gain a higher yield of acceptable crops. A major trait that could potentially change the way the world is fed, are that nutrients can be added to the foods we eat. Proteins, Vitamin A, starch, and many others can be added to the population’s food supply. These can be distributed to developing countries, which will allow those people to get more of the nutrients they need to grow and develop into healthy adults (Wieczorek).

Genetically Engineered crops (oftenly called GMOs) are used to help improve plants. (Food.gov.uk says) GM, which stands for 'genetic modification ' or 'genetically modified ', is the process of altering the genes of a plant, animal or micro-organism, or inserting a gene from another organism (living thing). This is done in labs and was created to help benefit plant life by replacing or modifying genes in plant life.Genes carry instructions from DNA on what characteristics an organism inherits(Food.gov.uk). “Genetic modification allows us to produce plants, animals and microorganisms with specific qualities more accurately and efficiently than through traditional methods…(Food.uk.gov).” Original methods for producing GMOs were not accurate and farmers would have to guess by cross pollinating plants to try and achieve certain traits. As time went on methods became advanced and accurate allowing certain traits to be identified sooner than if farmers were only cross pollinating. As beneficial as GMOs are there is still speculation on whether they are safe or not and if the benefits are worth the risks.

Genetically modified organisms are made moving the DNA from one species to another. DNA contains genes which code for proteins. For plants and bacteria; restriction enzymes are used to cut a DNA segment from a desired gene source and a bacterium plasmid. They are joined using ligase enzymes and inserted into the plant chromosome or host bacterium. For animals the recombinant DNA is injected into an embryo and transferred to a recipient mother. The organisms will now express a new protein. Proteins determine form and metabolism. Genetic engineering changes the natural DNA of living things, cutting across species boundaries.

Forcing genes from one species into a different, unrelated species forms genetically modified organisms. Webster’s Dictionary defines genetically modified organisms as “an organism whose genome has been altered in order to favor the expression of desired physiological traits or the output of desired biological products.” Genetically modified organisms are also known as transgenic organisms. There are many uses for genetic modification. Genetic modification is devoted mainly to the increased use of herbicides and pesticides. Most research is focused on plants to be able to produce their own pesticide to kill insects and to remain alive when sprayed by weed killers. Profit is the main motive of using genetically modified organisms.

Nowadays, the majority live with abundance of food, famine seems like a unfamiliar word to us, however, the truth is that we can not ignore the problem caused by the lack of food that’s happening and might happen in the future around the world. According to research, in 2012, there are approximately 92 million of people suffering from famine, and the arable land area is about 13,958,000 km2. (FAOSTAT, 2012) However it’s not proportional to the rapid steady growth of human population according to graph 1, soon enough, the present day crop production might not suffice our huge population of the future. In my opinion, there are two ways to prevent the world from huge famine again. The first solution is to create

The practice is a greatly industrialized one, as most genetic engineering in agriculture is being done by large transnational corporations. They are said to only be developing products for farmers in rich countries who can afford to pay high prices for seed (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2002). The crops of interest to theses farmers are field crops like corn, soybeans, and cotton, and fruits like tomatoes and cantaloupes. As this is a growing industry that is what the agricultural biotechnology industry is providing. Only a selected few will be able to produce the crops on a wide basis.“These products are of virtually no value to hungry farmers in Africa, who cannot afford the

The global population has reached a tipping point. Currently it stands at 7.2 billion people, and that number is only expected to go up; by 2050 the global population is expected to hit 9.6 billion (United Nations). In order to feed this multitude of people, the current food production must increase by 100% (Simmons 1). Something must be done to prevent mass starvation, and two different methods of crop production have been offered to alleviate the problem – genetically modified crops (GM) and organic farming. In order to determine which farming method will maintain a stable supply for a growing global population, one must consider the cost effectiveness, environmental friendliness, health of