Bug resistant potatoes. Canola fields that don't need herbicides. All remain elusive goals of Canadian farmers. Every living organism has a blueprint made of genes. The genes determine the shape of the corn, the richness of its colour and taste, just like they determine eye colour or height in people.
Genetic engineering is the process of changing the blueprints.
Under traditional methods corn, for example, can only acquire genetic material from other corn or plants of a closely related species. But with genetic engineering, genes from one organism or species are added to the blueprint of another. A fish gene added to a strawberry plant, makes it more resistant to the cold. A soybean seed is given an extra gene that makes it more resistant to a particular herbicide. When the field is sprayed with the weed killer, the soybean plant won't be harmed.