Biotech Allows ‘More Crop Per Drop’

Council for Biotechnology Information
March 22 was World Water Day, the day set aside each year by the United Nations to raise awareness around the world of the need for sound policies and practices to manage water resources.
Water is fundamental to all life and an essential element in agriculture. Water availability and drought affect some portion of the world every year. Shortage of water can be particularly devastating in agriculture, impacting yields that reduce the amount of food and feed that can be grown. Managing the rising demand for crops and coping with drought conditions is becoming increasingly more important to the global economy. The United Nations estimates that by 2025 much of the world’s population will be living in countries defined as water-scarce.
Agriculture requires a large amount of fresh water to be productive to feed the world’s population. In the United States, irrigation accounts for nearly 40 percent of our nation’s freshwater resources, according to the U.S. Geological Service. Internationally, the U.N. reports that agriculture accounts for roughly 70 percent of freshwater use.
Agriculture biotechnology is already producing plants that can survive and thrive despite environmental stresses, such as water scarcity. Researchers in the public and private sectors are continuing to improve these plants, and are developing a new generation that can maintain crop yield in the face of drought conditions. This research is currently focused on crops such as corn, cotton, and canola. These drought-tolerant plants will have the ability to use water more efficiently — think of it as “more crop per drop” of water.
The Council for Biotechnology Information has offices in Washington, D.C. as well as Canada and Mexico. According to its Website, www.whybiotech.com, the council communicates science-based information about the benefits and safety of agricultural and food biotechnology. Its members are the leading agricultural biotechnology companies.