Biotechnology in AgricultureA World View

Global Food Cost

Food for thought – The average American spent $120 on Valentine's Day!

Income / Capita % spent on foodUSA $47,000 6.90%Ukarine $6,900 42.10%China $600 32.90%India $2,800 35.40%EU $33,400 NAGlobal Ave. $10,500 NA

Hunger is the World’s #1 Heath Risk

• 913,000,000 Undernourished• Starvation kills more people every year than

AIDs, Malaria, &TB combined• There are more hungry people in the world than

the combined populations of the USA, Canada & EU.

• 10.9 million children under 5 in developing countries die each year! Hunger and malnutrition causes 60% of these deaths.

Global Population Growth

More than 10 billion More than 10 billion people by year 2050people by year 2050

•

People / Ha.

Food / Ha.

7

Human Challenges

• Biodiversity protection

Lack of reliable food sources and malnutrition

Limited arable land

Insufficient fresh water

Soil degradation

Better diet, better health

A growing need for renewable energy

Agriculture & Natural Resources

Water – Ag accounts for 70+% freshwater withdrawals

Soil– Top soil erosion rate of 2.7 tons/acre

Energy– Agriculture is an energy intensive sector

Biodiversity– Crop monocultures can impact diversity

Lost land

• 5-7 million HA. of Ag land is lost each year due to soil erosion.

• Almost every new home takes land out of production.

• Desertification takes more land every year.

Trends Shaping Agriculture Today

Shrinking Arable Land Per Capita

1961 1980 2000 2030F

0.5

0.75

1.0

0.25

2020

ACRES

ARABLE LAND PER CAPITA WORLDWIDE

Increasing World Population

Over 9 billion

people by 2050

Increasing Protein Demand

Increasing Grain Demand

Future Crop Technologies Poised to Help Address These Challenges

Agriculture’s Environmental Footprint

•Nitrogen-Use Efficiency Crops

A Combination of Biotechnology, Breeding Advances and Agronomic Practice Improvements Will Help Agriculture Address These Challenges

Global food security•Enhanced productivity•Higher-Yielding Crops•Sustainable production

Water availability• Drought-tolerant crops• Partnering to share

technology with developing world farmers (WEMA)

Biofuel Demands • Yield technologies to help

meet demand for both food and fuel

Demand for Healthier Diets•Vistive® & Vistive® Gold

Soybeans•Omega-3 Soybeans

Man’s Genetic manipulation

* Photo credit: AAAS, ARS, Nature

1980 – 2000Gene

Sequencing, Biotech Crops,

Human Insulin

2001Human Genome,Plant Genome,

Animal Genome

10000 BCFermentation & Leavening

1800’s Mendel’s Pea,

Darwin’s Species, Pasteur’s Microbes

1950-1980DNA,

Human Nutrition, Fortification,

Green Revolution

1900-1950Antibiotics,

Pasteurization, Preservation, Crop Breeding

Building on centuries of science, biotechnology is a

collection of tools used to improve and enhance

plants, animals, and microorganisms for the

benefit of society.

Building on centuries of science, biotechnology is a

collection of tools used to improve and enhance

plants, animals, and microorganisms for the

benefit of society.

Plant biotechnology builds on centuries of science

Modern cornTeosinte

Centuries of plant improvement provide modern plants such as corn

Plant Biotechnology: Precise and Predictable Plant Breeding

Desired gene

Traditional/ Conventional plant breeding

DNA is a strand of genes, much like a strand of pearls. Traditional plant breeding combines many genes at once.

Traditional donor Commercial variety New variety

Desired Gene

X =(crosses)

(many genes are transferred)

Plant biotechnology

Using plant biotechnology, a single gene may be added to the strand.

Desired gene Commercial variety

New variety

(transfers)

=

Desired gene

(only desired gene is transferred)

Farmers choose biotech crops

“Farmers have made up their mind… they continue to rapidly adopt biotech crops because of the significant agronomic, economic, environmental, and societal benefits.”

- Clive James, ISAAA

19952001Today

Source: Monsanto Data and ISAAA

APPROVING RESEARCH FIELD TRIALS PROCESS UNDER DEVELOPMENT OR

DELAYED

GROWING BIOTECH GRANTING IMPORT APPROVALS

29 Countries are Growing Biotech Crops Today

Two Categories of Traits Constitute the Majority of Biotech Crops to Date

Insect resistant crops- Bt genes- Corn and cotton

Herbicide tolerant crops- Tolerance to Roundup or Liberty- Soybean, corn, canola and cotton

Insect Resistant Cotton Herbicide Tolerant Corn

Controlling Bugs and Weeds

What are the traits out there today?

BT•Same protein as made by Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria used as a “organic insecticide.•Greatly reduces need to spray cotton and corn, only kills insects feeding on the crops.•Protects the plant from low level insect damage•Greatly reduces openings in plant that allow fungi to grow…reducing occurance of vomitoxin and aflatoxin.

What are the traits out there today?

Herbicide Tolerance

•RoundUp Ready and Liberty Link

•Great weed control

•Low toxicity chemistry

•Reduces trips over the field

•Allows no-till agriculture

•No soil carry-over.

Toxicity – LD50

• RoundUp – 5600 mg./Kg.• Ignite (LL) -1400 mg./Kg.• Caffeine -192 mg./Kg• Aspirin – 1000 mg./Kg.• Table salt – 3000 mg./Kg.• Tylenol – 332 mg./Kg.• Both RoundUp and Ignite are considered to

have NO Mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity, or Teratogenicity by the EPA.

Insecticides Replaced by BTLD-50

• Temik – 1mg./Kg.

• Deildren – 40 mg./Kg.

• Methyl Parathion – 3 mg./Kg.

• Diazinon – 300 mg./Kg.

• Lindane – 88 mg./Kg.

Biotech Patents – ownership1976 - 2000

• BASF -228

• Monsanto – 674

• Bayer – 516

• DuPont – 565

• Dow – 234

• Syngenta – 425

• Lots of competition

Acknowledgments

• Civileats.com

• Monsanto

• USDA/ARS

• Worldometers.info