BENGALURU: With the population growing at a rapid rate and projected to exceed 10 billion by 2050, the challenges for the food producers to meet the growing demands are numerous. With very less land available for farming, scarcity of water and growing concerns about global warming, things look really bleak to feed billions of people living on this planet. From farm to table, much has changed about food production.

For thousands of years, human beings have been engaged in improving the crops and animals they raise. Over the past 150 years, scientists have assisted their efforts by developing and refining these techniques of selection and breeding. Though considerable progress has been achieved, conventional selection and breeding are time consuming and bear technical limitations. The growth of genetically modified crops has been rapid, but it is still restricted to some specific areas. In the case of genetically modified crops, most of the commercial applications developed so far are directed towards reducing production costs, not towards meeting the needs of the consumers.    

Speaking at the 23^rd Annual Cattlemen’s College, sponsored by Zoetis and held in conjunction with the 2016 cattle industry convention and trade show in San Diego, CA, Dr. Robert Fraley, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Monsanto shared 10 important points about feeding the world and the GMOs. Here are some of the points as reported by Amanda Radke, reporter at BEEF Daily:

1. By 2050, world’s population will increase to 10 billion and these people are going to need to eat and this is going to be a massive challenge. It’s not about now; it’s about the next generation when it comes to food security that will pose a greater threat.

2. In order to meet the increased demand of US beef, there will be a need of the production capacity of another Illinois. In 2015, 2.0 billion bushels of corn were produced, but by 2050, there will be a need of 2.8 billion bushels of corn to raise enough beef to meet the growing demand.

3. There have been some great developments in food technology. The biggest achievement is how dramatically breeding has improved. Agriculture can now improve plants and animals by genetically modifying them.  

4. Today, there are 30 countries around the world raising GMO crops, which has helped raise yields by reducing weed and insect pressure. GMO crops are grown on one quarter of the world’s farm land. Nearly 4.4 billion acres of GMO crops have been grown since 1996.

5. GMOs are the most thoroughly studied food products ever. Despite the public outcry of the dangers of GMOs, they offer huge benefits with improved yields, reducing the need for pesticides and insecticides. And it is important to note that there hasn’t been a single instant of a food safety issue from GMOs.

6. For folks who think GMOs aren’t natural, think about this: The human genome has been carefully studied by scientists and it has been found out that all people contain 100-200 genes from other species. It turns out that GMOs are pretty natural and have got no such harmful effects on humans.

7. Agriculture has benefitted from technology and the people who grow our food have sought new ways to improve their own lives and ours by producing more with less. There are 50 billion microbes in 1 tablespoon of soil. A soil fungus or bacterium grows on the roots and make nutrients such as phosphate or nitrogen available for plant use. Yield increases are possible due to superior nutrient uptakes in plant’s early-life stage.

8. Everything we eat today was adapted and modified from foods around the world to grow in the US. Monsanto is focused on empowering farmers large and small, to produce from their land, while conserving most of the world’s natural resources like water and energy.   

9. Globally agricultural production could probably meet the demands up to 2030, even without major advances in biotechnology. However, could be a major tool in the fight against hunger and poverty, especially in developing countries. Because it can deliver solutions where conventional breeding approaches have failed, it could greatly assist the development of crop varieties able to thrive in difficult environments, where many of the world’s poor live and farm. About 37% of the public think that GMOs are safe, but almost 97% of the AAAS scientists believe GMOs are safe.

10. Monsanto has been focused on everything, but just hasn’t taken the time to reach out to the customers. They need to listen, communicate and engage with the public in the way the public wants to get the information.

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