Wars in Europe and the Middle East, increased demand and a changing climate are making food scarcer and costlier. American farmers say they can fill the gap with help from biotechnology, but to do so, they need help from Congress and federal regulators.
That was a key message from panelists in agriculture, business, government, law and academia during a summit this spring at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance, a new report says.
Panelists said politicians and bureaucrats need to speak more clearly during trade negotiations about the urgency and science behind the sales and safe eating of genetically engineered crops and meat. They said officials need to be more engaged in streamlining regulatory processes and decisions.
They want leaders to convey that the laboratory research into genetically engineered and modified food is not that different from the breeding processes used over the years by plant and animal scientists who have tried to boost certain traits over others.
The report offered the example of a lettuce resistant to a certain virus. It could be bred to boost this resistance or boosted through gene editing.
Biotech food vital to feeding world, report says
According to the report, growers also want policymakers and the public to understand that s biotechnological advances need to keep pace with a global population increasing by hundreds of millions yearly while the number of acres used to grow food flattens or declines.
Projections from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization say farmers will need to produce 60% more food to feed a global population of 9.3 billion in 2050, up from 8.1 billion today.
Jill O’Donnell, director of the Yeutter Institute, hosted the three-hour discussion in March. She said the meeting’s design encourages freer and fuller communication by keeping participants’ names private and sharing their thoughts in the October report.
She said those participating recognized the importance of speaking out more about the world’s future food needs and the importance of using biotech to meet them. Farmers must “feed a growing population among tougher growing conditions,” she said.
One potential change that could make a difference in Washington, D.C., is streamlining the number of federal agencies responsible for part of the biotech food regulatory process from three agencies with overlapping responsibilities to one, the report said.
Two identical heads of lettuce, for instance — one bred for traits traditionally and the other bred with gene editing — would face different regulatory paths through the USDA and EPA, the report explained.
“Too many agencies involved in different parts of the process,” she said. “Overlapping authorities. Streamlining who is responsible for what. Figuring out what needs to be looked at again. … The statutes have not been updated in decades.”
Labels and words matter
Growers also want government officials, regulators, food companies and food marketers to stop perpetuating the notion that “GMO-free” labeled food is somehow healthier and better for people than science-aided alternatives, the report said.
The UNL report, issued this month, said a top challenge that farmers and ranchers face is that food companies profit immensely from selling “non-GMO” labeled food at higher prices. Some market the idea that food without such labels is less safe.
Source: nebraskapublicmedia.org
Photo Credit: gettyimages-karen-massier
Categories: Nebraska, Crops