Biotech: Modern cross-breeding with major benefits to farmers

Contemporary tool in the ancient effort to grow a better plant

Plant biotechnology has been ongoing as long as farmers and plant breeders have tried to create crops with more desirable characteristics, such as plants that are taller or shorter, or more resistant to adverse growing conditions.

Originally, they created new plants by cross-breeding. Cross-breeding shuffles the plant’s genes and results in variation, but it is unpredictable. In contrast, today’s genetic modification techniques define the desired characteristic and insert a gene that expresses it to improve the plant.

Advances in molecular biology in the 1970s made it possible to identify the specific gene responsible for a trait, isolate that gene, and transfer it from any type of organism to plant cells. Instead of making tens of thousands of genetic changes, genetic modification inserts a gene with a known single beneficial trait into the plant. Scientists know what the protein specified by the gene does, so it is a more targeted change with less unintentional disruption to the plant’s other genes. Plant breeders embraced genetic modification because it offered precision and a quicker way of obtaining a desired trait in a plant.

The United Nations defines biotechnology as “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.” Biotechnology draws on the pure biological sciences (genetics, microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, cell biology) and in many instances is also dependent on knowledge and methods from outside the sphere of biology (chemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, information technology, biorobotics, and others).

USB’s objective is to explore new ways to address global biotech issues. As farmers, we have firsthand experience of the benefits of biotech on our farms. The farmer-leaders of the USB intend to leverage this experience and expertise to create partnerships with others also involved in biotech crop production from technology companies through farmers to processors and end customers. This could mean working with international customers to understand their needs; it could involve working with governmental agencies or with the food industry to better understand the general public’s views on foods resulting from the use of biotechnology. Wherever there are opportunities for the soybean checkoff to facilitate a better understanding of biotechnology and its role in advancing soybean production and utilization, we will be there working to help move the entire soybean industry forward.

The soybean checkoff believes that there is an abundance of sound scientific data as well as practical experience that demonstrate the benefits of biotechnology. Biotechnology is a key component of U.S. soybean farmer’s ability to continue to produce a sustainable supply of food, feed and fuel for domestic and international customers. Biotechnology is playing an important role in reducing environmental impact and at the same time helping to feed a growing world population.