Genetic engineering remains extremely contentious in Europe.

This matters because resistance to food altered by biotechnology is holding back development of new crops that may improve our health or help us mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Genetic alterations have come a long way. We arguably began doing it thousands of years ago, when we started selectively breeding crops for size, yield, taste and resilience.

…

Gene-edited seeds could also aid agriculture as climate change leads to more droughts, floods, pests and diseases.

For instance, insect-resistant crop varieties have been shown to greatly reduce the need for chemical applications, therefore shrinking the number of pesticide poisoning among farm workers. A 2013 study showed that adoption of insect-resistant cotton reduced food insecurity within Indian farm households by 15%-20%. Scientists have also developed drought-tolerant wheat in Argentina, while Kenya has begun growing drought-tolerant maize.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here