With rising temperatures and worsening drought, scientists are dreaming up ways to ensure farming and agriculture can be better for the environment and more efficient. And they’re making their dreams come true — with genetics.
This fall, President Joe Biden issued an executive order to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing in the United States: it covers many things from medicine and energy to agriculture.
“Genetics is a huge component of sustainability,” said [Professor Allison] Van Eenennaam. “So, if we can have disease resistance, adaptable animals that are able to withstand heat, then we could actually produce more product with less animals and that’s really what breeders have been striving towards, for whatever ever since animal breeding began.”
“We’re in the biotech era, and it’s literally influencing and revolutionizing agriculture, medicine, everyday life, creation of everyday products, and synthetic biology. so it’s revolutionary,” said Jon Entine, founder of the Genetic Literacy Project.
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Entine says bio-science needs public buy-in to be successful — which is why addressing public concerns is important.
“There are challenges ahead and we have to be respectful,” said Entine.
