Is gene editing the way out for a sustainable food system in the midst of the global climate crisis?
Producing food is terrible for the environment. Agriculture is responsible for a quarter of carbon emissions into the atmosphere and the vast majority of biodiversity loss worldwide.
And as environmental decline continues, the world’s population continues to grow. The United Nations predicts that the world’s population will reach 10 billion by 2057.
This raises the question: how increase food production by 50% and, at the same time, try to mitigate loss catastrophes Biodiversity and the climate crisis?
Genetically modified foods: sustainable path?
“We have come to understand that using more land for agriculture is the biggest sin in relation to climate change and biodiversity. This means that we need to grow food on less land to protect nature,” explains Matin Qaim, expert on food economics and director of the Center Development Research Center of the University of Bonn, Germany.
How to feed 10 billion people?
Qaim explains that, broadly speaking, there are two different approaches to the issue.
“One strand says we must dietary changes to make consumption more sustainable. That means less waste, less meat. The other strand argues that we need best technologies to create greener farming methods,” he told DW.
For him, however, both approaches are necessary. On the one hand, there is a need to change the way food is produced, in particular by reducing human consumption of animal proteins and nutrients. But that’s not enough. Like many experts, he believes that gene technologies are a crucial part of the strategy for a sustainable food system.
“Everyone wants to produce more food in less area, with less chemical pesticides and with less fertilizer. If you can [usar tecnologias genéticas para] developing more tolerant and resistant plants is a good thing,” he analyzes.
What are GMOs?
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) they have altered DNA, which changes their properties. Genetically modified (GM) crops may have better yields, well more resistant to pests, frost or drought or by adding more nutrients.
They can also be modified to reduce carbon emissions and increase the sustainability of food production. Although widespread, the production of GM crops uses only about 10% of the land used for the production of non-GM crops.
“GM is nothing but a creation technique, just like the crossing we’ve been doing for thousands of years. But it’s more sophisticated, so we can make very precise changes very quickly,” explains David Spencer, a plant pathologist and spokesperson for Replanet, an alliance of NGOs that advocates scientific solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. His Reboot Food campaign It focuses on sustainable food production.
GMOs were first introduced to the United States in 1994, with tomato plants modified to ripen more slowly and extend their shelf life. Since then, a wide range of crops such as soybeans, wheat and rice have been approved for agricultural use, along with GM bacteria grown to produce large amounts of protein.
Scientists in India have also developed sub-1 rice varieties that are a lot more resistant to flooding.
Flooding is a problem in the rice growing regions of Northern India and Bangladesh that is set to get worse as time goes on climate crisis develop. Now 6 million farmers in the region use sub-1 rice to protect their crops.
Golden rice, on the other hand, is a strain of rice genetically engineered to contain vitamin A, with the aim of combating dietary deficiency of this nutrient in parts of Asia and Africa.
disease resistance
Gene-editing technology has also helped save agricultural production from pests. In the late 20th century, papaya ring spot virus nearly wiped out papaya crops in Hawaii. Until a local scientist developed a modified papaya more resistant to the virus. The seeds were distributed to farmers, saving papaya production a decade later.
David Spencer has also worked to protect soybeans from the fungal diseases that are sweeping across America.
“Currently, there is no real solution other than massive fungicide applications. Nobody wants that, so we work to add genes or modify plant DNA to achieve better resistance to the fungus,” Spencer told DW.
Dispute
For many people, however, it is still difficult to accept the idea of genetically modified food. A 2020 opinion poll found that 50% of people in 20 countries believed these foods were unsafe.
When GM crops were first developed 30 years ago, uncertainty and safety concerns were shared by scientists, but things are different now.
James Rhodes, biosafety analyst at Biosafety South Africa, explains that 30 years of safety data and scientific knowledge show that GM foods are just as safe as non-GM foods.
“We have 30 years of safety information proving GM foods are completely safe to eat and 30 years of information proving they’re not harmful to the environment,” Rhodes said.
According to him, no country can start using GMOs without going through extensive regulatory requirements.
“When it’s brought into the field and commercially approved, it’s gone through a long history of development, especially in relation to risks,” he explains.
Reputation ruined by Monsanto
Matin Qaim thinks the GM food controversy has been confused with a debate about intensive corporate farming. The specter of Monsanto still hangs over the industry.
“There are concerns from big corporate interests of companies like Monsanto promoting more pesticides and monocultures and wrong forms of agriculture and seeds sold to farmers and expensive prices,” Qaim said.
Qaim shares the concerns, but says the problems have more to do with how the technology is regulated than with gene editing itself.
“It’s a wrong model to have corporate agriculture dominated by a few. But that has nothing to do with gene technology. Banning GMOs would be like banning the internet because of the sale of drugs and pornography,” he compares.
industry in transformation
GM agriculture is moving away from Monsanto’s big fish business model. Products are increasingly focused on social and public enterprises and the industry is looking for more local solutions that help smallholder farmers in developing countries.
Regulation and licensing are a big part of this. Many, including Replanet, strongly support open source GM and seed technologies.
“It is possible to develop off-patent GMOs developed by public humanitarian organizations. We need to regulate intelligently and ensure that there is competition in the market. Corporate industrial agriculture is the wrong model,” Qaim said.
Ultimately, it is about creating a licensing landscape that allows local farmers to adapt to the demands of sustainable agriculture, but quickly enough to respond to population growth and climate change.
But, as Rhodes said, new GM technologies will become more accepted as the need for them increases, as is the case with the papaya virus.
This content is a work originally published by the German DW agency. The opinion expressed by the publication does not reflect or represent the opinion of this portal or its collaborators.
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
