Experts Testify Gene Editing Is Key To Feed A Growing Population

Whether plant or animal, biotech experts told House Ag lawmakers this week, gene editing is the key to producing enough food to feed the estimated ten billion people on the planet by the middle of this century. Fan-Li Chou with the American Seed Trade Association said gene editing is already producing the crops needed to feed a soaring world population and deal with a warming planet.

“We’re working on water efficient crops, from lettuce to wheat to rice. We’re using gene editing to discover cover crops that can be cash crops, bring both environmental and economic benefits. It’s used to encourage healthy eating, modifying soybeans, so it’s heart healthy.”

Jon Oatley, with Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says gene editing is not just about plants.

“The farm animal of the future will need to be more efficient in converting inputs such as feed and water, and need to do this in increasingly harsher environments, while having less impact on the climate.”

Oatley said gene editing advances in the last ten-years are a “game changer,” as a precision molecular tool in creating such traits like PRRS resistant pigs developed at the University of Missouri.

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