Researchers are experimenting with engineering crops to better manage higher temperatures. 

“Continuously improving seeds to grow more resilient and high-yielding crops remains one of agriculture’s strongest tools,” Susan Luke, deputy director of external communications for Bayer’s crop science division, wrote in an email.

But there are limitations to how much resilience genetically engineered seed can provide, and researchers have concerns about the cost of seed and the role of large companies in the seed marketplace.

The biggest problem of all might be that it takes a long time to bring a newly modified crop to market. As farmers work to adapt to climate change, time is of the essence. Luke said new genetically engineered crop varieties can take more than a decade to develop. 

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Publicly funded research could help and could bring enormous benefit to society, some say. One study found that for every one dollar of taxpayer money invested into agricultural research and development, $10 in benefits were returned to society.

Such a move would require a turnaround: Public universities have traditionally been a major source of plant breeding research, but federal funding has fallen since the mid-20th century.

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