Support GMO Farming
by Martha Vertti (Furnish-7)
What are genetically modified foods?
GM foods may bring many health benefits
GM foods have a longer shelf life, and can be altered to have fewer calories, fats, and sugars, while at the same time altered to have a higher nutritional content (i.e, high amounts of fiber or protein). GM foods will be safer to eat because they will be immune to certain bacteria and fungi. In addition, farmers can produce GM crops with less pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. GM crops can also aid people living in LDCs by infusing crops with vitamins and minerals they lack in their diet. Scientists are even working on creating food that incorporates pharmaceuticals, like vaccines, into edible crops. This would help make treatments easier to ship, store, and administer.
Farmers will get many benefits from biotechnology
With the help of biotechnology, farmers can plant GM crops that resist pests, droughts, frosts, diseases, and weeds, and they can save a ton of money that they would otherwise lose if they planted traditional crops because these things are harsh financial setbacks for farmers. Farmers can establish a 'no-till' agriculture, as well.
GM technology can help the environment
If crops are altered to naturally resist pests and diseases, then this will decrease the amount of chemicals needed to keep the crops healthy. Less chemicals means less pollutants harming the ecosystem around the farm. Scientists can also control this gene within the species, in order to prevent the spawn of superweeds. Buffer zones can also be created to prevent cross-pollination.
GM technology can help end world hunger
Biotechnology is driven by research and innovation, and these principles can help achieve the sought-after goal of both keeping up with the food demand that comes with a growing population, and also ending world hunger. With the help of GM technology, the world's 6 billion people can be nourished by increasing crop yields on farms across the world.
Quotes from the experts
- "We'll soon be able to produce more crops with less pesticide, less fuel, less fertilizer, fewer trips over the field. We'll produce much more with much less....A couple of years ago I wouldn't have predicted this. But I now think that within a decade it will be possible to have crops that can withstand the stresses of early spring and late fall to such an extent that farmers could plant two crops of corn, soybeans, or wheat each year." --Dr. Ray Bressan, professor of horticulture and director of the Center for Plant Environmental Stress Physiology, Purdue University