Plant Biotechnology

According to the ISAAA report for 2012, farmers around the world continue to enthusiastically embrace and adopt genetically engineered (GE) crops because of their tremendous environmental and economic benefits and contribution to food security.

The International Food Information Council (IFIC) survey, “Consumer Perceptions of Food Technology & Sustainability”, shows U.S. consumers overwhelmingly support current federal rules for labeling foods. 

National Ag Day is a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. And today’s modern agriculture practices are more beneficial than ever before for the environment, the economy, food security and consumers.

“I’ve never been a farmer,” Bill Gates confessed at The Chicago Council’s Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security. “Until recently, I rarely set foot on a farm.”

Despite the fact that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack believes that the regulation of genetically engineered agricultural products must be science-based, and that he has “no doubts about the safety of the products this system has approved and will continue to approve,” some state legislatures are considering bills requiring labeling for biotech-derived food. These bills defy existing science-based regulation and are wholly unnecessary.

Prince Charles likes to talk about “sustainability” so much that he used a version of the word 32 times in his recent speech about farming at Georgetown University.

Thanks to genetic engineering, flowers are heartier and last longer after they’re cut.  And they come in a wider variety of shapes, sizes, scents and colors – even blue!