A crop can be grown and harvested, it can be grown to be used as profit or grown to make a living. Crops are widely used; primary use is human consumption which can be seen with the mass production of rice, potatoes etc. Livestock consumption relies heavily on crops making swede and kale. Other uses of crops are found in businesses such as textile (fibre crops), industrial uses (oil crops), landscaping (ornamental crops). The need for crop growth is substantial considering its positive impact on the world.
Genetic modification (GM) or genetic engineering is a technique used by scientists to modify the characteristics of an organism. GM has five difficult steps, the procedure includes DNA extraction, gene cloning, gene modification, transformation and backcross breeding. The first step involves the DNA being extracted from the organism with the desired trait. This is followed by the gene of interest being located and copied. The gene is then modified to express the desired trait, this is done by altering and replacing gene regions. Finally, backcross breeding is when the hybrid is crossed with one of its parents, to achieve an offspring with a genetic identity closer to the one of the parent.
Growing crops is not easy as there can be many complications, such as crops can be easily penetrated by bacteria, fungal or viral infections, crops cannot withstand drought, heat or saline salt. These complications can be rectified by modifying genes of the crop. Due to these growing problems, scientists have found techniques that will resolve these problems for farmer enabling them to harvest crops without trouble. Genetically modifying crops can make them resistant to diseases, pests, environmental conditions etc. About 85% of the corn grown in the US has been genetically modified, allowing them to be resistant to herbicide glyphosate. Herbicide glyphosate is a crop desiccant (drying agent) that is used by farmers to kill weed. Without GM, the glyphosate will kill both the weed and the wanted crop. This would mean harvesting crops would take much longer as farmer have to consider the crops being affected as well as the weed.
Examples of GM crops are limited, a few being plum, alfalfa, soy, canola and sugar beets. These are all examples of crops that have been genetically modified in the US to improve their resistance and immunity. By genetically modifying the plum it has made it resistant to plum pox virus, the resistance is due to the insertion of a coat protein gene found in the virus. Similarly, GM alfalfa is resistant to the herbicide roundup and this allows farmers to use their chemicals effectively without the need to worry about damaging the alfalfa. Soy has been majorly modified, modified to ensure high levels of oleic acid. Oleic acid is a menstruated omega-9 fatty acid which lowers low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. GM canola has high laurate levels, achieved by inserting the gene for acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterase. High lauric acid can kill harmful pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and fungi. A final example of GM crops is the sugar beets, these have been genetically modified to be resistant to herbicide glyphosate, meaning that is has fewer weeds resulting in fewer invertebrate such as arthropods.
GM crops can also help malnutrition and Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). VAD has a major contribution to preventable blindness to children, diseases and death from severe infections. Another concern is that in pregnant women in particular seem to be more prone to night blindness due to VAD and an increase risk of maternal mortality. A good way to solve VAD GM crops, GM rice crops which produce golden rice seem to be the key factor in eliminating VAD. Golden Rice which is a GMO produces pro-vitamin A (B-carotene) in the grain which isn’t produced in naturally occurring rice plants.
However, GM crops have drawbacks, they can have negative impacts on humans, the environment and on itself. For humans, the biggest concern are the allergic reactions that can be caused by GM crops due to the triggered immune response to the added substances. Another concern is that GM food may increase the production of toxins, as the gene of interest could have been damaged throughout the duration of the insertion process or if the gene has not been accepted by the recipient. Some GM food is known to have reduced nutritional value as the purpose is mainly prolonging their lifetime and becoming more resistant. GM BT corn (Bacillius Thuringensis Corn) is a form of pest control as it produces protein toxins that destroy pests and insects effectively. However, when the BT Corn produces toxins it is being released into the soil and if an excess of these toxins are found in the soil it can kill essential bacteria that are needed for plant growth. Another major concern is that pests may become resistant to toxins, due to adaptions and mutations.
On the other hand, GM crops can have a positive impact on the environment. For example, there has been significant reduction of greenhouse gas emission. This was achieved as GM crops are herbicide resistant and has contributed to the decrease in usage of pesticide spraying, reducing the footprint associated with pesticide use by 18.6%. GM crops also have a positive effect on various insects, this is because GM crops are insect-resistant so famers wouldn’t have to spray crops with insecticides. Another positive impact is it boosts no-tilling farming which is used by farmers as a weed management method. However, this method has a drawback, during the process of removing weed it also removes nutrient from the soil and this causes more erosion and overland flow which harms organisms living in the ground. This style of farming has been decreased by GM crops as they are herbicide-resistant, so farmers that grow GMOs do not engage in tilling at all. An additional benefit is GM crops increases yield and decreases land use.
In conclusion GM crop plants have been the key to solving many tough issues faced by farmers, as GM crops are insect/pest resistant therefore farmers don’t need to worry about investing on chemicals to get rid of them. They are also herbicide resistant so when killing weed of farmers don’t need to worry about causing damage to the crops. Some crops go bad for reasons such as environmental stress thanks to GM crops such as rice can withstand water stress in desert conditions. Not only are GM crops beneficial to farmers they are also a benefit to use human as GM crops have improved nutritional value and this helps deal with malnutrition in developing countries. GM crops do have some drawback such as allergies to humans, environmental effect and