A key part of any benefits discussion involves alternatives. Like benefits, discussions of alternatives can be complicated and elusive, and much depends on the goals envisioned. When the goals include reducing dependence on pesticides and herbicides, there are clearly alternatives to many biotechnology products. Many of these alternatives are not other products, but instead the systems and methods of sustainable agriculture. A good example is crop rotation, which keeps pests under control elegantly by depriving them of the continuous food supply they need to build up large populations.
Crop rotation has many advantages.
It controls a broad variety of pests rather than just one or two. It does not select for resistance genes, as do chemical toxins or genetically engineered crops. And it does not result in ongoing pollution of air or water. As a pest-control strategy, crop rotation is far preferable to both chemical insecticides and genetically engineered crops. Unfortunately, because it involves processes and not products, there is no industrial constituency to develop and support crop rotation as there is for the products of biotechnology.