You will prepare and submit a term paper on Can Agriculture Biotechnology Help Feed a Growing Global Population. Your paper should be a minimum of 2250 words in length.

You will prepare and submit a term paper on Can Agriculture Biotechnology Help Feed a Growing Global Population. Your paper should be a minimum of 2250 words in length. In the United States, the world’s largest food producer, 35 million people had inadequate food, according to figures by the US Department of Agriculture (Holdrege and Talbott 2008: 29). The world population is expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050 (Baird 2011:112). The Foresight report indicates that feeding such a large population will require efforts commensurate to the socially and environmentally damaging “green revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s (Baird 2011:108). Climate change has led to adverse weather conditions. It also complicates matters as people are forced to plan for adverse weather conditions such as the recent California drought. California produces half of the fruit and vegetables grown in the United States. Agriculture biotechnology alone will not feed the world. However, when applied as a compliment of other agricultural production methods it will be a solution to the rising food needs. Agriculture biotechnology will not feed the growing world population alone.

Agriculture biotechnology is the sum of tools that scientists use to understand and manipulate an organism’s genetic makeup for use in the production or processing of agricultural foods. It involves manipulating, removing, or replacing genes. It is being used to solve challenges in the field of agriculture and processing. Some of its applications include, plant breeding to increase yields, to enhance the plant’s resistance to diseases and pests as well as enhance its response to abiotic stresses such as drought and extreme cold.

It is also being used to enhance the nutritional content of foods, create low-cost disease-free planting materials for some plants such as cassava. It is creating new tools for the diagnosis and treatment of animals and plants, livestock, and fish and expanding the traits that can be addressed. Biotechnology changes the feeding and treatment of animals in order to improve animal nutrition while also reducing waste. It is instrumental in disease diagnostics and the development of animal vaccines.

It is important to note that biotechnology is more than genetic engineering because it enables scientists to understand molecular structures. Genomics, for example, is a branch of biotechnology that is changing the way people understand the functioning of genes, cells, organisms, and ecosystems. It is being applied in marker-assisted breeding and the management of genetic resources. Despite its wide-ranging applications, it remains an emotive and divisive topic. The field can have a lot of positive impact under good management because it can complement other food security measures.