News Investors Careers About Contact Search HEALTH FOOD ENERGY ENVIRONMENT CONSUMER OUR APPROACH Food Applications Food Animals Agriculture Collaborations AquaBounty Opportunities Contact Us Extreme weather: Drought and the need for novel food applications As a species, humans are dependent on the environment for the foods that we eat. We are often at the mercy of Mother Nature when it comes to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados or earthquakes that could potentially destroy our crops, livestock and overall agriculture. One threat posed by Mother Nature in particular is something that leading scientists are working to combat - drought. The United States Department of Agriculture reported in 2012 that the most severe and extensive drought in at least 25 years seriously affected U.S. agriculture, having enormous impacts on the crop and livestock sectors. Overall, about 80 percent of agricultural land in the United States experienced drought in 2012, destroying or damaging portions of the major field crops in the Midwest, particularly field corn and soybeans. This led to increases in the farm prices of corn, soybeans, and other field crops and, in turn, led to price increases for other inputs in the food supply such as animal feed. The threats posed by droughts remind us that while we rely on rainfall and a healthy ecosystem to produce our food and feed our livestock, we still have to feed an expanding global population with food from our existing and finite land mass. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicts that by 2050 the world’s population will reach 9.1 billion, 2 billion more than today. To feed a predicted global population of 9 billion, the world will need to produce more food in the next 50 years than all of the food produced in the last 10,000 years. We are now on the cutting edge of technology with regards to possible solutions to this problem through scientific breakthroughs such as complex trait engineering and gene expression optimization. Scientists are working hard to determine how to create sustainable foods and agriculture that can resist extreme weather conditions, as well as maximize current yields, combat possible disease and amplify traits that also speak to the customized health or nutritional needs of today’s consumer. With biotechnology farmers increased growth of food crops by nearly 312 tons between 1996 and 2011. Productivity in some bio-engineered crops has delivered yield gains between 7 and 22 percent higher than conventional varieties. In addition, modified crops help the environment, saving the equivalent of 521,000 pounds of pesticides each year and helping decrease herbicide runoff by 70 percent. Scientists with Intrexon are using their knowledge in the Food sector to evaluate the entire supply chain – from the molecular level with trait engineering and selection, to optimizing food ingredients to the potential to offer whole food products direct to market. Together with the help of farmers, scientists and the entire food industry, perhaps we are a little closer to the days when the word “drought” does not conjure up images of devastation, but rather the perseverance and resilience of the human species to adapt to the ever-changing world around us. IN THE NEWS Histogenics and Intrexon Announce Formation of Exclusive Channel Collaboration for Cartilage Repair Therapies Intrexon and Amneal Expand Relationship with Second Product Collaboration Fibrocell Science and Intrexon Advance GM-HDF-COL7 toward Clinical Development for the Treatment of Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa About Intrexon Leadership Our Business History Investor Relations Research IIBR Collaborations Connect Contact Information Public Relations Careers Search Jobs Legal Notices © 2014 Intrexon