Meeting the urgent need for food for a growing global population will require the use of all types of plant breeding, including biotechnology, according to an editorial in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

“Even more importantly, it will necessitate a reemphasis on innovation, greater diversification of the agrochemical and agbiotech industry, streamlining and harmonization of regulatory oversight, and an end to the political grandstanding that has characterized the agbiotech debate so far,” said the article in a publication of Nature, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world.

Biotechnology is safe and should be fully deployed, the editorial states.

“There is no scientific uncertainty about whether crops generated via transgenesis are riskier than conventionally produced varieties,” it says.  “They simply are not!  And thus regulatory oversight should be reined in, not ramped up.” Read more.

Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School, produced a working paper that discusses the contributions of scientific knowledge to agricultural innovations.

In particular, his paper “Technological Abundance for Global Agriculture: The Role of Biotechnology,” points out that developing countries can use biotech methods to drive agricultural productivity and increase food security.

According to Professor Juma, “Areas of the developing world lagging in the utilization and accumulation of technology have the ability to not only to catch up to industrial leaders in biotechnology, but also to attain their own level of research growth.” Read more.

By Richard L. Lobb, Managing Director
Council for Biotechnology Information

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jose Fernandez has strongly reaffirmed the government’s support of agricultural biotechnology as a way to produce the food needed by a growing world population. Biotech can help “produce more food using less land, less water, less fertilizer and less pesticide,” he says.

“Agricultural biotechnology has already shown it can increase crop yields dramatically,” Fernandez says. “Just to give you an idea of how dramatically: Over the past 15 years, agricultural biotechnology has enabled the production of 229 million more tons of food, feed, and fiber.”

In a video released by the State Department, where he is in charge of economic and business affairs, Fernandez said the nations of the world will need to increase global food production 70 percent by the year 2050.

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Australian scientists verify salt-tolerant wheat improves crop yields

Science Daily reported that a team of Australian scientists have introduced a salt-tolerant gene into a variety of durum wheat, with results showing increased grain yields by 25% on salty soils. The research was published this week in Nature Biotechnology, and is the first of its kind to fully describe the improvement of salt tolerance in an agricultural crop from start to finish.

Dr. Rana Munns, one of the lead authors of the study, explained the importance of the findings: “This work is significant as salinity already affects over 20% of the world’s agricultural soils, and salinity poses an increasing threat to food production due to climate change.” Read more.

Farmer Maria Gabriela Cruz: “the case for biotech crops is clear”

Truth about Trade & Technology shared insights from Maria Gabriela Cruz, President of the Portuguese Association of Conservation Agriculture, who makes her living by growing biotech corn on the farm her family has owned for generations. She worries that the EU’s persistent resistance to the technology will cause Europe to fall behind.

Commenting on biotech crops, Cruz said, “They produce better yields, require less water and fewer chemicals, and deliver environmental benefits. I know this from personal experience because I’ve been planting and harvesting Bt corn in Portugal since 2006. It’s the one kind of biotech crop I can raise here-and I wish I had the freedom to try other varieties, like farmers in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and so many other countries.” Read more.

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) brought together experts in Washington on Wednesday, March 7, for a panel discussion on the future of food and farming and the role of technology in helping to ensure a sustainable food supply-a topic particularly timely for today’s celebration of National Ag Day.

Dr. Roger Beachy explained that solutions must include genetic research aimed at improving plant disease resistance and enabling crops to last longer. “I’d like to see the day when disease resistance is king, not disease,” he said.

He emphasized the need for effectively leveraging public and private resources for scientific research, and called for harmonizing food safety guidelines globally and regionally to reduce barriers for approving new technologies and food products.

Watch the full video of yesterday’s panel discussion here.