By Allen S. Levine, Kathryn A. VandenBosch and Wendy Wintersteen
This week, leaders from around the world will gather in Des Moines, Iowa, to honor the recipients of the World Food Prize. University of Minnesota alumnus Norman E. Borlaug, the celebrated crop breeder and Nobel Prize Laureate for Peace in 1970, envisioned the prize as a way to recognize creative individuals who have advanced the availability of safe and nutritious food for the world's people. Since 1987, the prize has paid tribute to scientists, humanitarians, and leaders in politics, business and nongovernmental organizations.
This year's honorees — Belgian Marc Van Montagu, and Americans Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert T. Fraley — are being jointly recognized for key findings that enabled the genetic engineering of crops. Thirty years ago, the awardees independently discovered naturally occurring plant and bacterial processes that they harnessed for new technologies in plant genetics. These new tools swiftly led to the rise of plant biotechnology, changing agriculture by allowing scientists to modify plant traits and introduce novel ones.
The announcement of this year's awards was met with controversy — in part because of ongoing public debate about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and in part because two of the three honorees currently work for large private companies, Monsanto and Syngenta. Further, some critics say the World Food Prize should have honored different achievements, recognizing solutions from agroecology, supply chain management, or development of policies that impact economic equality and access to food.
The colleges of agriculture at our public universities were established to investigate, teach and encourage discussion of complex disciplines and perspectives related to food production. While the prizewinners may not currently work at universities, all three received training from public institutions, and all three have continued to collaborate with scientists at universities and to have an impact on the public and private sectors. They are shining examples of how important it is to consider difficult scientific questions and to continue to grow our public-private collaborations.
Addressing the challenges of food security and hunger requires all types of innovation, including biotechnology. This is not a simple endeavor. Land and water resources needed to support food production are finite. Extreme weather events such as drought and powerful storms increasingly threaten food security. We need to increase yields while reducing inputs, adapt to a changing environment, mitigate environmental impact, and improve soil and water quality. Continued advances in science and technology can help.
The first and still most widely employed bioengineered traits are enhanced crop resistance to insects and tolerance to herbicides. Some 17.3 million farmers around the world grow enhanced crops. This means that corn, soybeans and cotton, the most widely adopted engineered crops, can be produced with less insecticide and less tillage, which improves soil quality and reduces erosion.
As with any technology, we must vigilantly evaluate effects. For example, herbicide tolerance in some weeds and insecticide resistance of some corn pests indicate that these traits need to be implemented with good stewardship practices.
