Proponents of biotechnology described the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) as being about choice, sustainability and making sure all systems of food production are available to the world during Saturday’s GMO panel discussion at Earth Day Texas in Dallas.
Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) President Russell Boening and Julie Borlaug, associate director for External Relations for the Norman Borlaug Institute of International Agriculture, outlined facts and reasons why biotechnology is beneficial to farmers and essential in feeding a growing world population.
They were joined on the panel by anti-GMO activists Steven Druker, a public interest attorney, and Howard Vlieger, an Iowa farmer and crop nutrition advisor.
Boening said the panel’s discussion allowed him to explain that profitability is part of agricultural and economic sustainability. He said he’s not going to apologize whenever an individual farmer or group of farmers makes a profit with the aid of biotechnology.
“I also made the point that we’re farming the same land that my family has farmed for 80-plus years. That land is more productive now than it was 80 years ago. To me, that’s sustainability,” he said. “It’s not just my story. There’s a world of producers out there with the exact same story. We have to keep telling that story.”
Borlaug said she hoped the audience learned that genetic modification is a tool that can be used to address world food security, but that it’s not the only system.
“We need all systems. We need organic, conventional, as well as genetic modification,” Borlaug said. “I hope the audience understood it’s also about choice. If a farmer anywhere in the world wants to use GMOs, that is their choice, and they should be allowed to utilize it.”
Organizers said the Earth Day Texas event at Fair Park is the world’s largest Earth Day festival. As many as 75,000 attendees were expected over the three days. This is the fifth year for the event.