Feeding a world population of 7.8 billion people isn’t an easy feat. With arable land becoming increasingly scarce, fresh water becoming an incredibly sought after resource, as well as traditional agriculture practices contributing to global warming, the search for sustainable methods of food production is becoming more important by the day. In 1910, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch invented the Haber process, which turned ammonium fertiliser from a resource that was time consuming and expensive to extract, to one of the most widely used chemicals today. It completely transformed the history of both industrial chemistry and agriculture, and even in this day and age, is responsible for feeding 50% of the world’s population.
However, these benefits don’t come without a steep price tag. The reaction requires enormous amounts of energy to take place, and data has found that manufacturing ammonium fertilisers through the Haber process accounts for 1% of gross energy consumption globally. The reaction is also responsible for a significant amount of carbon dioxide emissions, with the process producing 1.4% of global carbon emissions. This is why it’s imperative that scientists find an alternative for this energy-hungry process, and create other methods of meeting the global demand for food.
The most promising solution so far? Genetically modified crops.
GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms, have been around since 1973, and have seen great advancements in the technology since. Whether it’s the Rainbow Papaya, which saved Hawaii’s economy in 1997, or Golden Rice, which has the promise to save millions of lives from blindness and Vitamin A deficiencies, GMO technology has immense potential, and is a field of science that is becoming increasingly popular in the 21st century. GMO technology has faced heavy opposition, however, and many feel that the relatively new technology is still untested and unreliable, and may have adverse effects in the long term. Could it really hold the key to the future of our food?
There’s no denying that the science behind it is groundbreaking. In 2020, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna received the Nobel prize in Chemistry for their work with CRISPR-Cas9, which is a tool that simplified and sped up the process of genetic engineering, turning it from a month-long, year-long process into one that can take place in a matter of hours. In India, five million farmers are planting 7.6 million hectares of Bacillus thuringiensis cotton, which is a genetically-modified species which protects itself from insects without requiring external pesticide. Not only did this result in higher profits, equating to approximately $250 per hectare, but also resulted in a 39% decrease in pesticide use, which has significant benefits for the respiratory health, skin condition and overall lifespan of cotton farmers. With crops such as Golden Rice, which is rich in beta-carotene, or Iron Beans, which can have almost 90% more iron than regular bean varieties, it’s clear that using genetic engineering to create biofortified crops is the way to go when targeting malnutrition or vitamin deficiencies in developing countries.
GMO crops offer benefits such as greater yield, fortified nutritional value and increased resistance to insect and fungal attacks, which in turn stabilises and strengthens food production systems, and make communities who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods less susceptible to severe impact from droughts, plant viruses and other threats. With most communities already feeling the burden of climate change, the food security that GMO crops provide is a major advantage to be taken into consideration.
Well, what stands in the way of GMO crops dominating the agricultural scene, and ending world hunger? Firstly, it’s the nature of GMO crops themselves. Unlike traditional crops, where any changes in plant species were naturally occurring mutations, GMO crops are designed and tested in laboratories around the world. Because of the way that these new species of crop are invented, they’re accompanied by numerous legal stipulations, such as laws surrounding intellectual property, or having the use and distribution of these species under patent protection. This means that they’re largely controlled by the private sector, and without the necessary resources, developing countries who would really benefit from GMO crops are unable to grow them without investing heavily in biotechnology.
The way these patented crop species are controlled also increases the likelihood of single-point failure, especially when very few companies have the technology and tools required to manufacture these crops. This results in a few established companies heavily dominating in the GMO market, and results in less regulation and the possibility of heavy price fluctuations.
It’s not just the laws and regulations surrounding GMO crops, but the attitudes towards them too. Even though the scientific community has advanced significantly in recent years when it comes to research about genetically modified crops, within the general population, genetic modification is still seen as new and untrustworthy, and is a topic that’s rife with misunderstandings and misconceptions. Some of these doubts may stem in truth, such as the ethical considerations around using genetic engineering to create ‘designer babies’, but the concerns about GMO crops are largely inaccurate, and come from a lack of fundamental understanding behind genetic engineering. A large proportion of those affected by malnutrition, and therefore would benefit the most from genetically biofortified crops, are small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, where use of GMO crops is less common. Since attitudes toward GM crops tend to correlate with levels of education and access to information about the technology, there is a concern that sub-Saharan African farmers may be hesitant to adopt GM crops.
Resolving the global hunger crisis isn’t as easy as just sowing the seeds of a genetically fortified crop. We already have the science in place, so now our main focus should be on changing the laws, changing the legislation, and changing the mindsets surrounding genetic modification. It’s about companies choosing to share the vital resource with those who need it, rather than keeping genetically fortified crops behind the locked gates of patents and intellectual property protection. It’s about developed nations with the necessary resources helping developing nations to invest in biotechnology, so that they can finally break out of the poverty cycle, and have increased food security. The biotechnology industry has funnelled a vast majority of its resources into a limited range of products that are meant for First World consumers, and have no real impact on ending world hunger. There is so much untapped potential waiting to be harnessed, but we need to make sure that we’re using this tool for the right purposes.
Ultimately, genetic modification is a tool that can end world hunger. It’s how and where we use it that defines its success.