Impacts of Genetic Engineering on Agricultural Production Essay

The role of optimal nutrition for the health of human beings as well as their development remains crucial. Adverse environmental conditions, including extreme heat, drought, flooding, among others affect crop yields compared to other factors such as diseases and pests. Therefore, to uphold high standards of health and wellbeing, it is crucial to increase agricultural production. Genetic engineering offers a variety of opportunities for improving public health and agriculture. Therefore, genetic engineering is a technology that suppresses the conventional animal and plant breeding by allowing the rapid transfer of genetic characteristics between organisms that appear different.

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At the moment, genetic engineering has been adopted by over 25 developing countries, and over 300 million acres of land are under cultivation every year (Hu & Xiong, 2014). In developing countries, the most common genetically modified crops are beans, cotton, and corn. Also, genetic engineering that works like an insecticide is the most popular in the developing countries. This is where the genes for the bacteria are directly inserted into the crop. The gene comprises of a pesticide of which aims at completely getting rid of the insects that destroy the crops. Herbicides and resistant genes are directly inserted into the plants is another most common genetic engineering used on the crops. The herbicides contain pesticides that are sprayed on the crops to get rid of the weeds. The plants survive because of the resistance genes in the pesticides. Besides, crops that are genetically modified have been reported to more resistant to diseases, have higher levels of vitamins and minerals, the plants have higher protein concentrations and delayed fruit ripening. Developing countries that have adopted genetic engineering have reported tremendous changes. Therefore, the potential impacts of genetic engineering include increased yields and improved nutritional value of crops, improved control of water and soil pollutants, as well as a reduction in the use of fertilizer and pesticides.

An underlying impact of genetic engineering lies in need for creating crops for resistance to pests. Genetic engineering aimed at improving crop resistance against plant and insect pathogen pests provides with numerous opportunities for reducing the use of fungicides and insecticides during the process of crop production (Frompovicz, 2006). This approach helps in minimizing the problems resulting from the use of pesticides, as well as in improving the economics of pest control. While there are some environmental benefits associated with crop resistance to the pest, it is crucial to be careful to ensure that the breeding process does not result in toxic chemicals. These might include alkaloids that undermine the nutrient makeup of a crop.

Genetic engineering also results in the development of herbicide resistance in crops. This has the advantage of widening the range of herbicide types for controlling the weed. In most cases, herbicide resistance provides an opportunity to be more effective in the use of herbicides, reducing the overall amount of herbicide applied to the crops (Pimentel et al., 1989). However, it is crucial to understand that the genetic engineering resistance to the relatively low-dosage and new herbicides does not reduce the impacts to the environment. Additionally, there is the risk that the increased use of herbicide-resistant crops can widen the use of herbicides, contributing to a myriad of environmental problems.

The socioeconomic value provided by genetic engineering of crops provides with another impact of genetic modification on agricultural production. With regards to socioeconomic value, the benefits of genetic engineering range from increasing crop yields, to improving the efficiency of livestock and crop production (HerreraEstrella & AlvarezMorales, 2001). These goals are achieved by the increase in the proportion of the crops to be harvested, as well as improving the resistance of the plants to a variety of stressors. For instance, genetic modification might serve to reduce the vulnerability of crops to frost, which provides with an opportunity for allowing early crop planting. The availability of nitrogen can also be improved through the use of R-DNA technology (Lappe & Bailey, 2014). Nitrogen availability remains a limiting factor in crop production, and genetic modification eliminates these limitations. Crop such as wheat and corn have the potential of being modified to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, which can save individuals a lot of investment that would otherwise be spent on fertilizers (Pimentel et al., 1989).

Therefore, keeping up with the socioeconomic value of genetic modification, there are also social costs associated with modifying the genetic composition of plants and animals. For instance, genetic modification of crops results in increased yields that benefit the consumer by lowering the prices of food. However, the overall profit margins of farmers are undermined. The research holds that an increase of 1% in crop yields results in a reduction of approximately 4.5% of the price that is received by farmers (Pimentel et al., 1989). For instance, the genetically engineered BGH has the potential impact of increasing milk production in dairy cattle by approximately 40%. This means that when applied, BGH can increase the production of milk across the United States, helping in the reduction of the money spent on the purchase of surplus milk. However, this has the potential of reducing milk prices by approximately 10-15%, which will further reduce the number of farmers within the country (Pimentel et al., 1989). Thus, the relationship between genetic modification and the costs and prices of the products shows that while genetic engineering might serve as a method of increasing crop and livestock yields, it also has the potential of reducing the overall prices of these yields, resulting in a reduction of the overall number of farmers.

On the contrary, farm-level impacts of genetic engineering show an increase in the overall production of crops and livestock, which in turn results in increased revenue for farmers. Adenle (2011), cites an assessment that was conducted by Brookes and Barfoot between the years 1996 and 2008 focusing on the farm level economic and production impacts of genetic modification. The evaluation concluded that with the application of genetic engineering technology for commercialization, there had been a dramatic increase in agricultural production, which has resulted in a positive effect on the farm income. Between the year 1996 and 2008, the overall farm income impact resulting from the use of this technology resulted in an increase of revenue by approximately $52 billion (Adenle, 2011). Additionally, the increase in farm revenue benefit for genetically engineered crops accounted for 5.7% in the additional total value of global production in developing countries in the year 2008 (Adenle, 2011). Statistics from the year 2008 shows that farmers who adopted genetic engineered crops in developing countries such as South America, Mexico, Honduras, Burkina Faso, India, China, Philippines and South Africa obtained farm benefits of up to 50.5%, as well as an increase in cumulative farm income by approximately 50%, which reflected a total of $26.2 billion. With regards to impacts on production, genetic engineering "contributed considerably to global production of corn (79.7 million tonnes), soybean (74.0 million tonnes), cotton (8.6 million tonnes) and canola (4.8 million tonnes) since 1996" (Adenle, 2011). These results were measured during the period between the year 1996 and the year 2008.

The profitability impact is yet another effect of genetic engineering in agricultural production in developing countries (Datta, 2013). An apparent fact is that genetic modification allows crops and livestock increase their yields as well as profitability. Adenle (2011) also cites another study conducted by Carpenter that examined up to eighty examples of genetic engineering crops profitability. The author found that:

"59 showed an increase with GM crops with a decrease of 14 and 7 showed no difference. In terms of yields, increase in profitability was higher in developing countries than developed countries, especially in GM cotton. For example, the United States and Australia have an average increase in gross margin, representing US$ 58/ha and US$ 66/ha, respectively, whereas China, Mexico, India, South Africa and Argentina have an average increase in gross margin, representing US$ 470/ha, US$ 295/ha, US$ 135/ha, US$ 91/ha and US$ 23/ha, respectively" (87). Nonetheless, this shows that there is an increase in the gross margin of agricultural production resulting from the increasing adoption of genetic engineering across developing countries. It also shows that there are differences between developing and developed countries with regards to profitability for genetically modified crops.

In an age of technological advancements, the topic of genetic engineering in the field of agriculture remains a hot subject. Genetic engineering offers a variety of opportunities for improving public health and agriculture. It is a technology that suppresses the conventional animal and plant breeding by allowing the rapid transfer of genetic characteristics between organisms that appear different. Genetic engineering within the agricultural sector has been associated with a myriad of benefits for developing countries. This paper has highlighted a number of effects resulting from the adoption of genetic engineering within the agricultural sector, among which include increased yields and improved nutritional value of crops, improved control of water and soil pollutants, as well as a reduction in the use of fertilizer and pesticides.

References

Adenle, A. A. (2011). Global capture of crop biotechnology in developing world over a decade. Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 9(2), 83-95.

Datta, A. (2013). Genetic engineering for improving quality and productivity of crops. Agriculture & Food Security, 2(1), 15.

Frompovicz, H. B. (2006). A Growing Controversy: Genetic Engineering in Agriculture. Vill. Envtl. LJ, 17, 265.

HerreraEstrella, L., & AlvarezMorales, A. (2001). Genetically modified crops: hope for developing countries?: The current GM debate widely ignores the specific problems of farmers and consumers in the developing world. EMBO reports, 2(4), 256-258.

Hu, H., & Xiong, L. (2014). Genetic engineering and breeding of drought-resistant crops. Annual review of plant biology, 65, 715-741.

Lappe, M., & Bailey, B. (2014). Against the grain: genetic transformation of global agriculture. Routledge.

Pimentel, D., Hunter, M. S., LaGro, J. A., Efroymson, R. A., Landers, J. C., Mervis, F. T., ... & Boyd, A. E. (1989). Benefits and risks of genetic engineering in agriculture. BioScience, 39(9), 606-614.