Maize : A Crop From Central America

“Sixty to seventy percent of all processed foods available on store shelves contain genetically modified ingredients”, according to George Erdosh and Marcia Amidon Lusted in “To GMO or not to GMO? Genetically engineered food has strong advocates and harsh critics.” Genetically modified organisms can be found in most conventional foods processed in the United States, and genetic modification of crops is extremely common on classic Minnesota farms. Crops such as corn and soybeans or even papaya and zucchini are viable for genetic modification. In fact, the definition of (GMO) as reported by Alex K. Rich and Tom Warhol, authors of “Genetically Modified Foods: An Overview,” is, “food in which, at some point during the production process molecules and proteins are chemically altered to give the food more nutrients, a better appearance, and a longer shelf life.” As a matter of fact, a majority of all the foods found at the grocery store are genetically altered. However, many people do not know what genetic modification really is, or that the idea has been around for many years. GMOs are used to control pests and weeds. Therefore, through changing the genetic makeup of the plant, modifications allow for advancements of new technologies that account for the applicability of specific chemicals, as opposed to dated Non-GMO farming techniques.

Many alterations have been applied to the area that corn is grown in. The main biome that corn is grown would be grasslands. Grasslands are an extremely important biome for producing food, it was shown that approximately 90% of the food produced today contains at least one of the fifteen species that are grown in grasslands. Unfortunately, for there to be enough space for corn to be grown and harvested, native grasses must be cleared, therefore having a devastating impact on the biome. Corn is known to be the most thirsty crop to be grown, taking up almost 7,000 to 8,000 gallons of water, draining countries, that don't receive as much rain, of their groundwater. Another impact on the environment of corn production would be the excessive use of fertilizers, this is due to the little nutrients returned back to the soil. As corn is mainly used for consumption, very little plant

The history of corn can be dated back to the beginning of time, but the use and value of corn had been unnoticed until it was introduce by the Native Americans. Where corn had seemed to be a big part of their everyday life from, being in myths, legends, and for a huge portion of their diet corn was an essential component. "when the Europeans had touched base to the New World during the late fifteenth century, the Native Americans had introduced corn what they had called maize to the Europeans .This crop was then later on grown and adapted from Canada to southern South America very quickly, which then began to form the new basis of the New World civilization" (Leventin & McManhon, 2012). The way corn has been changing and revolutionizing throughout time has been both fascinating and drastic. Rather than conventional corn being grown, it is genetically modified corn that have been dominating today 's crop industry and farming but the question remains as to how the various types of GMO corn has influenced the way it is grown and used and what its ramification are.

Never would someone had thought that the richness of a crop's production could bring power to early humans, becoming almost as a revolutionary concept. Today maize-fields are cultivated for food, economic and medicinally productions, but it does not represent anything special in today's society as it was before. In the Popol Vuh maize is an important concept and symbol that expands to ideas that many anthropologists and professionals cannot understand completely. Yet, when reading the Popol Vuh there are many examples of when maize is used to represent its importance. Maize is the most important idea in the Popol Vuh because it provides food, it results in wealth, it represents a political system and it shows hierarchy.

In North America and the Andean region of South America maize was an essential part of their life that they even worshiped it. Maize helped establish possible changes in modes of production and religion that focus on fertility and mother nature. Maize unified many Native American cultures and was found all over south and north america as far as Texas. Some of the commonly planted were maize, beans, and squash. The Olmec civilization was so advanced that some people began to think they came from outer space or that they suddenly arrived from Africa which I thought was pretty interesting to actually believe that the Olmec came from outer space just looking at the structures they built and being able to move a boulder more than fifty-six miles.

Maize or corn is a domesticated plant of the United States. The Native Americans founded it and it quickly spread to other parts of the world. The Native Americans transformed maize by carefully cultivating. Maize developed from a wild grass called Teosinte that originally grew in Southern Mexico, 7,000 years ago. The Teosinte kernels looked completely different from the kernels of today’s corn or maize. Teosinte kernels were small and separated from each other. The first cobs of corn were only a couple inches long with only eight rows of kernels. The cobs eventually started to grow and increases the yields of the crops. Maize agriculture did not reach Southern New England until a thousand years ago.

The debate over genetically modified foods continues to haunt producers and consumers alike. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are foods that have been modified through bioengineering to possess certain characteristics. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or increased nutritional content (Whitman, 2000). The debate continues to grow as to whether these genetically altered foodstuffs are the answer to hunger in the coming years, or whether we are simply children playing with something that we do not have the capacity to understand. One of the biggest debates in the GMO issue is whether producers need to use labeling of

Because of the success of transgenic crops like Bt corn, the usage and availability of GMOs has increased exponentially. The number of GM crops produced in the United States grew from 1.45 hectares in 1996 to over 29 million in 2000. This accounts for about 70% of the total GM crops grown in the world (European Commission 2). Similar patterns have emerged from other agriculture-intensive countries like Canada, Argentina, China, and Brazil. Large percentages of products like soybeans (68%), cotton (50%) and corn (28%) are now

Whether Americans realize it or not, most of them consume genetically modified organisms every time they eat a snack or a meal. According to Robin Mather’s article “The Threats from Genetically Modified Foods”, “you’re eating genetically modified foods almost daily unless you grow all of the food or always buy organic” (Mather). This can be a scary thought for those who know about the numerous effects of GMOs or those who didn’t know what was in the food they’ve been ingesting for years. When Nielsen selected 1,200 Americans for a survey on GMOs for The Wall Street Journal, “61% of consumers had heard of GMOs and nearly half of those people said they avoid eating them” (Gasparro). The only difficulty with avoiding genetically modified organisms is that they make up approximately eighty percent of the ingredients used in processed foods that put together most of the regular American diet (Gasparro). The reason that genetically modified organisms are in most processed foods is because most processed foods contain corn or high fructose corn syrup that comes from genetically modified corn plants. Of all the corn, soybeans, sugar beet, and canola crops grown in the United States, over ninety percent of those crops are grown from genetically altered seeds (Gasparro). Ever since 1996, when genetically modified plants were first commercially grown for the public, the use of genetically modified seeds has been on a sharp increase (Charman). Although the use of genetically modified

With numerous developments plaguing agricultural production, the implementation of Genetically Modified Organisms, commonly referred to as GMOs, is best suited to be used in food manufacturing. It is estimated that by the year 2050, global food production must increase by seventy percent. However with current practices in place and the limited expansion of farmland due to urbanization, such production rates are nearly impossible to achieve. The use of Genetically Modified Organisms seems to be among the only feasible options to rapidly increase food production and thus aid in this crisis which plagues even though most developed countries, such as the United States. Specifically in the United States, the use of Genetically Modified Organism

We begin, in the beginning – the seed. Food’s evolution, like all living beings, begins from a seed. The seed is the fundamental first stage of life. Genetically modified (GM) seeds are a threat to the entire food cycle and “…the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage” (Lopata, 210). Elizabeth Fitting explains this threat in Food Activism explaining the central role maize plays in Mexico. She writes, “The farming, milling and cooking of maize are a key part of everyday life in the countryside.” She goes on to say “In many indigenous regions of the Americas, maize seed retains a strong spiritual significance and is the focus of a variety of rituals involving the blessing of seed, celebrating of the harvest, and so on.” …”maize

There are many issues that face Americans today and need to be addressed, though some that are more pressing in nature. One of which is of great concern being the large presence of GMOs in our daily diets,. In the rush to produce more food cheaper and make it resistant to disease and pest, we may have opened ourselves to unknowns. We have health issues in the United States that are not nearly so prevalent elsewhere in the world (Séralini). We have bee’s dying at alarming rates (Amos). Both are linked to the existence of GMOs, it begs the needs to ask ourselves then I think,

“70 percent of our corn farmland and 93 percent of soy farmland are planted with crops genetically engineered to resist pests and herbicides and increase crop yields. 60% of all the processed foods in the United States are genetically modified; a shocking statistic has the concern of many Americans. However, most people are uninformed about the beneficial impact that genetically modified food has on their diet. GM is the use of molecular biology technology to modify the inherited structure of organisms. Genetically engineered crops increase nutrients, drought tolerance, provide more food for growing populations, and resists diseases and pesticides. Genetically engineered foods are crucial to the improvement of economy, agriculture, society, and health choices. The creation of GM foods was one of the most significant breakthroughs in food industry. Genetically modifying foods is a key component that is harmless for the enrichment of our foods.

One of the benefits of GMO maize’s is high nutritional values. Almost a half of the Kenya population do not have accessibility to a well-balanced meal. This is due to poverty and low productivity of agricultural foods. The introduction of GMO maize may provide solution to this problem since there is a possibility to inject the seeds with any nutrients (Bouis 2007). Research shows that there is a biotechnology rice that consist of iron and carotene. Considering the benefits of these nutrients to the human body there is a possibility to develop a maize variety with those nutrients or even more nutrients. This technology will helps Kenya to improve on the lives of people especially children (ibid).

It is ironic that given the huge range of designer carp baits that have materialized in the past few years, perhaps the world 's number one carp bait is among the cheapest, easiest to obtain and simplest to prepare: maize. And while maize does not exactly 'grow on trees ' it does grow on plants and it is readily available worldwide at very low cost.