The impact of biotechnology on food and nutrition today

Although still not widely accepted in some countries, biotechnology has proven to push industrialized countries to attain maximum growth in the agriculture sector. Having food on our table would not have been possible were it not for this community. The World Bank sees the farm sector as a significant driver for growth in several economies, especially those where agriculture employs a massive workforce that lives within and even below the poverty threshold.

Today, more and more institutions are putting a premium on efforts to spur the sector’s growth and help laborers produce food more easily. As such, the world turns to the promises of biotechnology in improving the way we live through the food we eat.

A report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that the application of biotechnology may span in every aspect of the value chain. The study noted better performances in livestock and crops thanks to biotechnology. On livestock, the FAO said animal-related experiments across the world are going intensive on increasing growth and production; improving reproduction, selection, and breeding; and making feeds richer in nutrition.

Many biotech companies are taking on these purposes. For instance, an emerging firm with equally commendable innovative technology is heading toward becoming a biotech giant in several communities. Established in 2006, biotechnology firm Greenbelt Resources Corp. (OTCMKTS:GRCO) was founded on the vision of benefitting as many farmers it can through its corn-to-ethanol technology. The company, later on, transitioned the application to a new model where biomass or agricultural waste is used to produce ethanol.

Greenbelt Resources’ waste-to-bioproduct technology enables the recycling of food, beverage and agricultural waste and their conversion into bioproducts such as bioethanol, fertilizer, a valuable amino-acid rich protein concentrate and, now, including a solvent for cannabis extraction.

So far, the equipment has garnered $2.4 million-worth of sales from the University of Florida and to an Australian agribusiness consortium. As the firm eyes to expand the deployment of its waste conversion technology into established alternative agricultural markets, this year may be a victorious period for the Greenbelt Resources in improving global food and nutrition through biotechnology.

Improving soil condition

Biotechnology is also largely innovating the ways we till the soil. Through this advancement, crops are expected to give better yields, dramatically more than when sowed using traditional seeds. Also, consumers of biotechnology developed food enjoy their meals with lower levels of fertilizers. Biotechnology makes it possible for farmers to skip the heavy application of pesticides and herbicides which account for a large share in the farming cost and which some developing countries cannot afford.

Today, several trials all over the world are engaged in producing a biotech seed variety that will put major crops resistant to the infestation of pests and diseases.

Biotech is also known for its effectivity in increasing output of several crops with a low operating cost which translates to higher returns for farmers. Aside from this, the technology can also increase their nutritional content. This is what Golden Rice claims to be capable of. A study in the 1980s showed that there may be a link between the high incidence of vitamin A deficiency in rice-eating countries — mostly in Asia — and the consumption of the staple grain. As such, Golden rice was held as the solution although the rice variety has yet to be accepted in several Asian nations.

The developer of the Golden Rice was Syngenta, one of the leading biotech agri-industry giants. The firm engages in the manufacturing and selling of seeds and agrochemicals. Syngenta is a large influence in the emergence of genetic engineering in the United Kingdom and the world. It has been expanding significantly around the globe in order to address the world’s biggest problem which is how it would feed the world’s rapidly growing population.