Background | feedingtheworld

Roughly 805 million people in the world do not have enough food. Nearly 45% of deaths of children under the age of five is caused by poor nutrition - 3.1 million children each year. With genetically modified crops, these statistics can be lowered. G.M. Crops can help grow more food, add more nutition, and help end the hunger of people all over the world. The idea of G.M crops originated from Gregor Mendel, who studied the inheritence of peas in the 19th century. (1)

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What are Genetically Modified Crops?

Why Were G.M. Crops Developed?

Since the begining, crops have been modified through selective breeding. Today, through technology we are able to genetically engineer plants to our needs. They are created through inserting and deleting genes in the plant's DNA to change the phenotype traits, genotype, and the function of the plant. (2)

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In the video it explains how G.M. crops are developed

Major Challenges of Genectically Modified Crops

With genetically modified crops, there are many challenges that could be overcomed, but they also face many challenges. Many people fear G.M. crops because of certain rumors such as, the cause of allergenicity in humans and toxicity. Most people also believe that G.M. crops don't actually reduce pesticide use and others believe that gene transfer can cause certain plants to become superweeds and become resistant to pesticides. (3)

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Watch video to understand what GMOs are

Why We Should Have G.M. Crops

There are many reasons we need G.M. crops. One reason for that is, as stated before about 850 million people around the world are malnourished and hungry. Most of the people that are malnourished and hungry live in third world countries where food is scarce and populations are high. With G.M. crops, we can reduce the number of people who are malnourished (1)

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Past Technologies Used

Throughout history, biotechnology has been used on crops. Selective breeding is the manipulation of genes in crops which involves humans to continously select traits from certain crops and breed them. This technique has been used for many centuries and today we now genetically engineer crops to our needs. (10)

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In picture above shows an example of selective breeding

Top Six Genetically Modified Crops

Sugar Beets Sugar is one of the main ingredients in foods today. Because sugar beets grow slowly and must compete with weeds, which grow much more quicker, for water and sunlight they require massive weed control. With genetically modified sugar beets, using glyphosate for weed control which breaks down deep into the soil with little effects to birds, fish, and other species in water or on land, allows to have a higher yield and have farmers to be more flexible.	Papaya Papayas have been threatened by the Papaya Ringspot-Virus, a disease that is sharply lowering yields. To stop the disease, viral capsid proteins have been transferred into the papaya genome. The Capsid proteins are similar to an "immune response" from the papaya plant. The new, genetically modified papaya plants are no longer susceptible to the disease/infection, which allows farmers to cultivate the fruit with the virus still widespread.	Alfalfa Monsanto has genetically modified alfalfa plant to resist the herbicide Roundup. The specific name for the GMO alfalfa plants is Roundup Ready Alfalfa (RR alfalfa). Because alfalfa is used to feed cows which are the main source for dairy, meat, and much more, alfalfa being genetically bodied helps farmers cultivate more to feed the masses
Maize Maize, also known as corn, is in one of the main ingredients for processed foods, which are shipped to many underdeveloped countries. Bt corn is a type of genetically engineered corn that produces a substance which enables it to defend itself from the European corn borer. The larvae of the European corn borer can chew through the corn stalk which will result in the plant falling over and will allow an entryway for fungal diseases that can lead to the presence of poisonous mycotoxins.	Cotton Cotton fibers are used to make textiles around the world. 43% of the world cotton is Bt cotton which produce a substance that protects itself against insect pests. One of these pests are caterpillars which bore into cotton bolls reducing yield and compromising the quality.	Soybeans Soybeans are one of the most important crops in producing oil and protein. Genetically modified soybeans also known RoundupReady-soy beans which have a resistance against herbicides containing the ingredient glyphosate. They also have a insect resistance against the larvae of different types of butterflies and moths, as well as against aphids. Soybeans are important because they because they are leading crop that contains proteins.