Explain how genetic engineering can improve food supplies?

Question

Biology question i cant find the right answer to.

Answer 1

i live in the middle of the corn belt.  genetic engineering is all around me.  there are many different varieties of corn, some takes a long time to mature, some takes a short time, some puts large ears with a lot of kernals on them, others don't produce much corn at all, some is resistant to drought, some is very good, but cannot take dry weather.  they are constantly cross pollinating these corns to get the best traights out of each, obviously a high producing corn that can take drought and will undoubtably mature before the end of the growing season is an advantage over a low producing corn that takes a long time to mature, and can't take dry weather.

Answer 2

You can make plants less susceptible to insects and other pests, so that the yield is far higher.

You can also create plants that will produce most product per plant (for example, a strawberry plant that will produce 100 strawberries rather than the normal 20).

Personally, I think it's a very risky business, and I don't advocate genetic engineering. The world has enough food; we're just unwilling to share it with those that are starving to death thanks to politics.

Answer 3

surley cos you can make things grow faster and in different climates ?  = more food?

Answer 4

If you genetically engineer a wheat plant to have twice as many ears & harvest it, you've got twice as much flour from the same bit of land.