Biotechnology: Feeding the World, or a Brave New World of Agriculture?
Featuring Jon Entine, Founding Director, Genetic Literacy Project; Kevin M. Folta, Interim Chair, Horticultural Sciences Department, University of Florida; and Karl Haro von Mogel, Co‐Founder, Biology Fortified, Inc.; moderated by Patrick J. Michaels, Director, Center for the Study of Science, Cato Institute.
Despite increasing population, global food production per capita is at all‐time highs, even as the amount of agricultural land is reaching new lows. The prime driver has been technology, beginning with the Green Revolution of the 1960s, when Norman Borlaug discovered the key to high‐yielding wheat. Since then, “slow” genetics has been replaced by DNA‐splicing, giving rise to fears of genetic “mistakes” damaging the world food supply or resulting in inadvertent harm to consumers. Jon Entine and Kevin Folta embrace these innovations, promoting genetic literacy and post‐modern agriculture. At this forum they will answer the charge that biotechnology is “a Brave New World of agriculture.”
