Tag Archives: Benefits of biotech crops

As part of Forbes Video Network’s “Thought Leaders” series, U.S. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack talks about the benefits of agricultural biotechnology: “We probably have not done a very good job of explaining to people the benefits of GMOs, not just simply the fact that they can produce more crops, but that they can do so with less reliance on natural resources, less damage to natural resources and less reliance on chemicals and pesticides.” View the Read More >

Be sure to read Stephen Budiansky’s opinion piece in the August 19th New York Times.  Budiansky dispels a number of the myths associated with the “virtues” of locally-grown foods and applauds our modern American agriculture system.  Whether you prefer biotech, conventional or organic production, you can’t argue that our country serves up the safest, most abundant, affordable and efficient food supply in the world.  Agriculture accounts for just 2 percent of our nation’s energy usage; Read More >

In the BBC News “Green Room,” Prof. Jonathan Jones wonders why there is such a fuss about biotechnology when it can help deliver a sustainable global food system. We can improve crop variety performance by both plant breeding (which gets better every year with new genetic methods), and by genetic modification (GM).  Ouch; yuck – GM. Did you recoil from those letters? Why? “I started making GM plants (petunias, as it happens) in 1983, working Read More >