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Biotechnology’s role in enhancing food security while addressing climate change is gaining deserved attention. It is important that we understand the issue clearly.
In a recent opinion piece in The New York Times, Michael Grunwald accurately acknowledges the critical role that biotechnology will play in increasing agricultural yields while using less land and resources—despite rapidly changing conditions and evolving diseases. However, he also conflates several important concepts and misrepresents others. BIO’s Interim Head of Agriculture and Environment, Sylvia Wulf, submitted a letter to the editor pushing back this on inaccurate portrayal.
First, biotechnology is leveraged across all forms of agriculture, including regenerative and climate-smart practices. Biotechnology is key to developing climate-resilient crops, reducing soil emissions, and improving nutrient uptake.
Second, feedstocks are grown for their protein, not for biofuels; biofuels are a byproduct of feed production and our supercharged agricultural productivity.
Third, carbon farming is an important tool to help address climate change. No- and low- till farming promotes healthier soil management, reduces erosion, and improves water retention and drainage. These are all necessary for the long-term viability of existing cropland. Furthermore, reduced tillage lowers the number of passes a tractor must make across a field, which significantly reduces fuel usage. Those avoided emissions have been estimated as the equivalent of nearly 3 million U.S. households for a year.
Biotechnology can reduce 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually in agriculture—equivalent to the emissions from more than 100 million U.S. homes. Specifically, it has the power to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, enhance soil carbon sequestration, and adopt algal and microbial feed ingredients to reduce enteric methane emissions from animals. Agriculture is constantly finding ways to innovate and must be viewed as a partner, not a villain.
