By boosting crop yields, biotechnology conserves the earth itself. By producing high yields from cultivated land, biotechnology helps relieve the pressure to develop fragile ecosystems for agricultural production. Many biotechnology crops use already-cultivated land more efficiently. In the future, some biotech crops in developing countries may better grow in unfavorable climates thus making the most out of growing conditions. Now, in the latest in a long line of scientific advances, biotechnology holds the promise of still more progress for farmers and the environment.
Biotechnology can help create crops that can help keep our streams, lakes and rivers cleaner.
For example, corn with high available phosphorous will improve animal nutrition, while reducing the phosphorous content of manure and related water pollution from farm runoff. Use of biotechnology enables production of crops that conserve natural resources, in some cases reduced the use of pesticides in agriculture, provides farmers with another choice in insect and disease control, and offers a wide range of other environmental benefits. Scientists have developed strains of corn and cotton that produce precisely targeted solutions that protect beneficial insects. Herbicide-tolerant soybeans provide farmers with more environmentally friendly weed control systems. Another way to reduce the global footprint is to use biological routes to create chemicals and polymers from renewable resources.