What’s really in your food?
This question is not only for consumers with questionable meat slapped on their McDouble, it also has to do with the emergence of innovative food technologies, for grocery store shoppers around the country.
Genetically modified organisms are organisms whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. GMOs are widely used to produce medicine, create pest resistant crops and yield greater harvests.
However, there are questions arising about the safety and effects of these technologies as they diffuse into the public community. It would be ignorant to turn a blind eye to these rapidly emerging innovations, especially considering that in 2015, GMO crop varieties accounted for 94 percent of planted soybean and 93 percent of planted maize, according to Science Advances.
There are many people who believe GMOs expand corporate domination. While it may be true that corporations benefit from the production of GMOs, the consumer still indirectly benefits.
In one study from the journal PLOS One, two agricultural economists found that GMO technology increased crop yields by 22 percent, reduced pesticide use by 37 percent and increased farmer profits by 68 percent.
To understand how the consumer is affected, we need a crash course in economics.
When the supplier is able to produce a higher yield of crops at a lower price, the consumer sees the benefit at the register. Suppliers are able to charge less when they can produce goods at a lower cost. Thus, more people are able to purchase the good. Without GMOs, food prices in grocery stores would be significantly higher around the world.
GMOs make food affordable, protect our environment, feed the world’s hungry and allow producers to utilize more environmentally friendly planting techniques that cut down on soil erosion, greenhouse gas emission and water use.
In 2012, 17.3 million farmers around the world grew genetically modified crops, and more than 90 percent of them were small-scale farmers in developing countries. If this trend continues, GMOs could help provide critical jobs for farmers across nations and food for those facing hunger.
There’s no doubt we would be less advanced as a society without GMOs. They have pushed the boundaries and limitations of sustainability and growth.
If we want to continue to move forward into technologically advancement, we must address the misconceptions surrounding GMO use to maximize our potential as a society.
Alaina DiLaura is a 20-year-old international studies and mass communication sophomore from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.