Experts Raise Alarm Over Stalled Global Adoption of Biotech for Food Security

The global adoption of biotechnologies to improve crop production has stalled, according to an international team of researchers from Australia, Canada, and India. The group composed of economists, plant breeders, and plant scientists are concerned and are now calling on governments worldwide to put in place policies and regulations that will drive progress in this area.

In an opinion article ‘Gaining acceptance of novel plant breeding technologies' published in a special 25-year anniversary issue of Trends in Plant Science on plant breeding, the group urged the scientific community to work harder to convince the public and governments of the value of adopting plant breeding technologies to combat the challenges of climate change and improve crop resilience.

Professor Christine Foyer of the University of Birmingham, the lead organization in the study said that despite advances in plant science in the past 25 years, acceptance has been slow partly because the benefits are widely recognized, and partly due to fears and misconceptions around genetically modified plants. She added that plant scientists must now be advocates for their achievements in order to gain public confidence in new and emerging technologies.

For more details, read the news releases from the University of Birmingham and the University of Western Australia or the opinion article in Trends in Plant Science.