Thought for Food Blog

Sustainable Agriculture and Transgenic Crops

Sustainable agriculture and transgenic crops | IFIS Publishing

There is a growing realisation among all sectors of society that nations must adopt sustainable agricultural and industrial practices to achieve the goal of providing fresh water, a healthy diet, and adequate living standards, not only in the short term, but also into the distant future.

The need to develop higher-yielding crop varieties that will be adapted to local conditions and conducive to sustainable agriculture, and remain high yielding in the absence of irrigation and large inputs of petrochemicals (i.e. fertilisers and pesticides), is a significant challenge, especially given the short time frame available.

Many plant scientists believe that the use of modern biotechnology, molecular breeding techniques, and genetic engineering of crop species can contribute significantly to achieving these goals. Conversely there is also some skepticism about genetic engineering (transgenesis) of crops, echoing the general fear and distrust of this technology that is prevalent across Europe and the UK, particularly with respect to its close associations with multinational businesses and globalisation.

Arguments against the use of genetically engineered (transgenic) crops and foods appear to be shifting from the idea that such foods might be unhealthy or unsafe for individuals or for the environment.

First, there is no evidence that transgenic foods are fundamentally unsafe for human consumption. Although it might be possible to create unhealthy foods using transgenic technology – for example, foods that contain an allergenic or toxic compound, however food safety regulations are in place to prevent this from happening.

More importantly, the use of modern biotechnology could lead to the production of foods that are more nutritious and healthy for individuals. For example, advancements in plant science could improve preventative medicine to combat chronic disease. Research is currently being conducted to develop transgenic crops with enhanced nutritional content that will supply additional phytonutrients known to combat disease, such as polyphenols, which have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Such foods could benefit consumers in both developing and developed countries.

Secondly, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the environmental benefits of transgenic crops outweigh any potential environmental risks. Biotechnology methods could be applied to develop more disease-resistant crop varieties. This is an area where transgenic crops can have a major impact on environmental protection and the development of sustainable agriculture. In this way, controlling plant disease with genetics could allow us to move away from controlling it with chemistry.

The use of transgenic crops that are genetically modified to resist disease could lead to significant reductions in the use of chemical pesticides, reducing negative impacts on the environment as well as creating a healthier environment for farm workers, and can lower significantly the energy demands of agriculture. This could become a dominant approach especially given the advancements in framing practices – covered in previous blog posts.

Broadly, there are two main arguments against the use of transgenic crops, a) this technology is fundamentally ‘against nature’ and should therefore be avoided and b) that it is designed to benefit large multinational corporations at the expense of the small farmer.

The claim that genetic engineering is against nature can be answered by realising that molecular breeding is no different from traditional breeding in this respect, and all crop plants are the result of genetic engineering. Modern molecular breeding techniques are more precise, broader in scope, and allow for much faster development of new varieties than traditional breeding.

The notion that transgenic crops are designed to benefit large multinational corporations at the expense of the small farmer is pervasive, and many people mistakenly view biotechnology as an anathema to sustainable farming and to small farmers.

Multinational companies, such as Monsanto, certainly have a large stake in biotechnology. Furthermore, the development of transgenic crops is expensive and seemingly out of reach of small farmers, especially in impoverished areas of the world.

However, in their book Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food, P.C. Ronald and R. W. Adamchak argue there is no fundamental reason that biotechnology cannot be used to benefit small farmers and enhance sustainable agriculture. In fact, far from contradictory, the merging of genetic engineering and organic farming may well provide the most effective approach to truly sustainable agriculture.

Genetically engineered crops in combination with organic techniques have already helped farmers in less developed countries and have been used to reduce the adverse environmental effects of farming and enable farmers to produce and sell more food locally.

For example, when small-scale papaya farmers in Hawaii were confronted with a devastating viral disease, transgenic papaya was the most appropriate approach to restore the industry (funded by nonprofit sources and distributed free to growers). There are no conventional or organic methods to control the disease.

The difficulties in getting regulatory approval for the cultivation and sales of genetically modified crops are probably the most important reasons why they remain largely the preserve of the multinationals.

One option would be to free biotechnology from excessive regulation, allowing its application, case by case, to enhance the nutritional quality and productivity of crops, particularly in unfavorable growing environments.

Instead of working to prevent the use of transgenic crops, a key role for nongovernmental organisations could be to help ensure that improved crops and other benefits from biotechnology reach the small farmers and impoverished areas that need them the most.

Golden Rice provides a succinct example of this in practice. The staple crop has been genetically modified to produce high levels of provitamin A, and its widespread use could make a significant contribution to combating vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. The introduction of Golden Rice and other beneficial transgenic crops to developing countries can be achieved via international research centers, free of costs and restrictions on property rights.

Given that crop productivity globally needs to be at least doubled to alleviate hunger and feed nine billion people by 2050, there seems to be vast potential and necessity of plant biotechnology to contribute toward boosting sustainable crop production.

The first step will be to work toward avoiding loss of production. Water scarcity represents a major threat to agriculture and is the single most common cause of severe food shortages in developing countries.

Even in the most productive agricultural regions, short periods of water deficiency are responsible for considerable reductions in seed and biomass yields every year. More than 70% of the globally available fresh water is used in agriculture to sustain crop production. To cope with the detrimental effects of climate changes on crop yield and to fulfill the growing demand for food production, it is imperative to develop new crops with higher performance under water scarcity, which are able to consume less water and to maintain high efficiency.

The traditional approach of growing and crossing varieties and evaluating how the results vary in their ability to deal with stress has limited potential for increasing crop production in areas with suboptimal water availability, whereas plant biotechnology offers the greatest innovation potential.

An interesting approach consists first in the identification of the master regulatory genes involved in plant water use and in plant drought tolerance. Transcription factors that naturally act as master regulators of cellular processes are excellent candidates for modifying complex characteristics, and transcription factor-based technologies are likely to be a prominent part of the next generation of successful biotechnology crops.

The more people understand about both traditional and modern biotechnological plant breeding methods, the more they will hopefully realise that the use of biotechnology and transgenic crops can play a valuable, sometimes essential, role in the need to provide healthy nutritious food for the world and achieve sustainable agriculture on a global scale.

Plant scientists therefore have a significant role to play in public education as well as agricultural research and development.

Image Credit: Tebra Nix on Unsplash



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