GMO Crop Haters Point to Planting Acreage Decline as Victory – It’s Not

April 27, 2016 –  The year 2015 saw a 1% decline in acreage dedicated to genetically modified crops. For the anti-GMO movement it was seen as a victory of sorts, the beginning of the end of Frankenfoods. But that is far from the truth. According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), a non-profit group that tracks GM crops, the observed decline reflects two realities:

• a drop in global commodity prices.
• a point of planting saturation in North America where GM crops are most commonly found.

ISAAA says that the lull in acreage planting is temporary and estimates an addditional 100 million hectares (247 million acres) will probably be planted in GM in the near future, most of it in Asia.

In addition there are 85 new GM products under field test and the tools to gene-edit, CRISPR-Cas9, are coming into more widespread use.

GMO developers continue to tackle the world’s most difficult crop diseases. Through engineered control of diseases GMO researchers have discovered solutions to address three of agriculture’s biggest risks:

• wheat stem rust
• soybean rust
• potato blight

Wheat stem rust is responsible for destroying 20% of the annual U.S. wheat crop and is a threat to other wheat growing regions around the world. Researchers at the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom successfully identified two resistance genes which they then inserted into the wheat genome. The end result a wheat stalk resistant to rust. Researchers believe the introduction of this new GM variety will reduce risk to wheat acreage globally over the next 5 to 10 years increasing food supply.

Soybean rust is a serious challenge in Asia, Africa and the Americas. It is caused by two different fungi, Phakopsora pachyrhizi and Phakopsora meibomiae. The former is found in Afro-Asia. The latter is common to the Americas. The disease can affect up to 80% of plantings reducing crop yields dramatically. The rust breakthrough has come from Universidade Federal de Vicosa in Brazil where scientists found a resistant gene in pigeonpea and inserted it successfully into soybean. The result is a rust resistant soybean plant that in Brazil alone will save farmers $2 billion U.S. in crop losses annually.

Potato blight, the cause of the 19th century famine that decimated Ireland’s population, is caused by a fungus, Phytophthora infestans. In the 1840s it destroyed 90% of Ireland potato crop. It is one of the most studied plant diseases in the world with chemical fungicides the common remedy. But The Sainsbury Laboratory in the United Kingdom has sought a genetic solution taking genetic material from a wild potato variety from the Americas and inserting it into domestic breeds. The result, a potato that is blight resistant.

For the anti-GMO movement these new GM successes must be troubling. But for a burgeoning human population that sees close to 1 billion going to bed hungry each night, saving staple food crops is a moral imperative and GM is the weapon of choice.