Policy brief

By Tania Hernandez

Introduction

One of the most controversial aspects

of our food system is the role that should

be played by modern agricultural

biotechnology in the form of genetically

engineered (GE) crop varieties. With

global population projections estimated

to reach 9.1 billion by the year 2050,

proponents of the technology claim that

genetic engineering will ensure that our

crops are productive and resilient

enough to feed a world demand which

will require a 70% increase from current

food production levels.1

1 High Level Expert Forum-How to Feed the World in 2050. (2009). Global Agriculture Towards 2050. Rome. Available from http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/Issues_papers/HLEF2050_Global_Agriculture.pdf (Accessed 19 January 2015).

However, critics warn against the reliance

on a singular technological fix like GE crops

to solve the world’s food problems. They

argue that modern biotechnology alone

cannot address the root causes of global

hunger because it is not fundamentally a

Executive Summary

One of the most controversial aspects of our food

system is the role that should be played by modern

agricultural biotechnology in the form of genetically

engineered (GE) crop varieties. However, critics warn

against the reliance on a singular technological fix like

GE crops to solve the world’s food problems. This

means that the solutions lie in the arena of policy

making and in our own ability to change our behaviours.

Therefore, GE crops are hardly sufficient to address the

hunger problem which requires locally adapted

solutions, democratic decision-making and in many

cases, the restructuring of food systems.

University for Peace

Department of Environment &

Development

Re-thinking the Use of

Biotechnology in Our Food

System Issue 2015/01 ∙ January 2015

University for Peace Policy brief ∙ n° 2015/01

technological problem.2 This will be the

focus of this brief which aims to critically

analyze the use of biotechnology,

specifically GE crops, in our food system to

determine whether we should rethink the

path we have started to walk before it is too

late to turn back.

This brief proceeds in five sections. First,

we outline the merits of GE crop

production. Second, we review the fallacy

implicated in focusing on food production

considering the current discourse of global

hunger. Then we examine the issue of food

waste followed by a broader look at the

problems facing our food system. We then

conclude by proposing ways to move

forward.

Genetically Engineered (GE) Crops

Advocates of genetic engineering argue

that widespread adoption of the technology

will have a significant impact on combating

food insecurity in regions in the Global

South such as Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

where populations are expected to increase

the fastest (+114 percent) and where

farmers will be hit hardest as a result of

changing climatic conditions.3 Drought-

resistant varieties that can withstand drier

conditions and pesticide- and herbicide-

resistant varieties that assuage pest and

weed pressures, respectfully, are said to

lead to improved yields and thus increased

profits for farmers. This can help alleviate 2 Pesticide Action Network North America. (2010). Biotechnology and Sustainable Development. San Francisco, CA. 3 Data from the FAO’S Food Security Indicators, Economic and Social Development department, 24 January 2013 release, available from http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-fs/ess-fadata/en/ (Accessed 19 January 2015).

hunger not only by creating a greater

availability of food but an increased food

supply will also lead to decreases in prices.

This will facilitate increased access to food

to food insecure populations.4

Supply is Not the Problem

To claim that global food production will

need to increase presupposes the idea that

there is or will be a shortage of food supply.

This is empirically unfounded and

inherently problematic considering that the

global supply of dietary energy reached 122

percent of the global requirement in 2012-

2014, demonstrating a steady rise from 115

percent only 20 years earlier.5 Over the

same span of time, the global population

mushroomed from around 5.7 billion to an

approximate 7.1 billion, debunking the

notion that global food supply is negatively

correlated to population growth.6 Even in

the midst of concerns surrounding

population growth, current projections

suggest that average daily energy

availability could reach 3050 kcal per

person by 2050 (slightly lower at 2970 kcal

in the Global South), a marked increase

from 2770 kcal in 2003-2005, meanwhile

most people only need around 2,100 kcal

per day.7 In fact, we are producing so much

food that we cannot even eat it all: at the

end of the 2014 growing season, 2.5 million

4 Zilberman, D., Kaplan, S., Kim, E., Sexton, S., & Barrows, G. (2014). Biotechnology and Food Security. Journal of International Affairs, 67(2). 5 FAO Food Security Indicators, 2013. 6 FAO Food Security Indicators, 2013. 7 High Level Expert Forum, 2009.

University for Peace Policy brief ∙ n° 2015/01

tonnes of grain staples were harvested yet

only 2.4 million tonnes were consumed.8

Waste amidst Food Insecurity

Evidently, the problem of hunger goes

beyond the discourse of production in its

complexity and thus requires a deeper

analysis of local and regional contexts. For

example, in the US alone, 40% of total post-

harvest food goes to waste.9 That is the

equivalent of more than 20 pounds of food

being thrown out per person every month -

a value of $165US billion a year.10 The

paradox lies in the fact that one in six

Americans is food insecure. In fact, the

number of Americans that are food insecure

– that is, any household where at some

point during the previous year lacked

sufficient food to eat - has grown

substantially reaching 48 million in 2012

which is a fivefold increase since the late

1960s.11 If we add to this the fact that more

than one-third of adults (34.9% or 78.6

million) in the US are obese, we can be

certain that the dynamics of the ‘stuffed and

starved’ go beyond a supply and demand

dilemma.12 What is even more striking

8 Food and Agriculture Organization. World Food Insecurity and Malnutrition: Scope, Trends, Causes and Consequences. Retrieved from http://ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/ai799e/ai799e02.pdf (Accessed 19 January 2015). 9 National Resources Defense Council (2012). Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill. Retrieved 25 November 2014, from http://www.nrdc.org/food/wastedfood.asp 10 NRDC, 2012. 11 NRDC, 2012; McMillan, T. (2014). The New Face of Hunger. National Geographic. Available from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/hunger/ (Accessed 19 January 2015). 12 Ogden, C., Carroll, M., Kit, B., & Flegal, K. (2014). Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011–2012. Journal of the American Medicine Association, 311(8): 806-14.

about the situation in the US – which is by

far the strongest promoter and user of GE

crops by hectare – is that GE crops were

first planted in 1996 and have been on a

steady rise ever since and now cover a total

of 70 million hectares as of 2013.13 If the

introduction of GE crops has failed to solve

the food crisis of America, how can it be

expected to solve that of the world?

A Broken System

The answer is it can’t. Clearly, the

simplistic notion of the need for more food

does not square with current realities and

does not address underlying problems of

inefficiencies in the food system and

inequalities in access and distribution

which varies across time and space. The

2009 UN-led IAASTD report also supports

this argument:

“The problem of global hunger and

poverty is not fundamentally a

technological problem. Existing

rules and policies and dominant

institutional arrangements have

shaped today’s food system, and

are largely responsible for the

extreme inequalities in access to

food and resources seen today.”14

Poverty, hunger and malnourishment are

not technical issues; they are complex social

13 GMO Compass (2014). GMO Crop Growing: Growing Around the World. http://www.gmocompass.org/eng/agri_biotechnology/gmo_planting/ (Accessed 25 November 2014). 14 International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. 2009. Agriculture at a Crossroads: Synthesis Report. Island Press, Washington, DC.

University for Peace Policy brief ∙ n° 2015/01

and political issues. This means that the

solutions lie in the arena of policy

making and in our own ability to change

our behaviours.15 This means we should

be wary of any one solution that is

advertised as being the golden ticket out of

all our food problems. Food insecurity does

not exist because GE crops have not been

widely adopted so it cannot be expected

that GE crops – and any form of modern

biotechnology for that matter – can tackle

the deeper structural issues of our food

system including legislation and trade and

food policies.16 The importance of good,

democratic and action-oriented policy

should not be underestimated: with the

implementation of the Zero Hunger

programme, Brazil was able to decrease

overall poverty from 24.3% to 8.4%

between 2001-2012; decrease the number

of undernourished people from 10.7% of

the population in 2000-2002 to less than

5% in 2004-2006 while also decreasing

severe food insecurity by 25% between

2004-2009.17

Conclusion and Suggestions for

Moving Forward

The often cited single grandiose question

of how ‘to feed the nine billion’ presents

15 Heinemann, Jack. 2009. Hope Not Hype: The Future of Agriculture Guided by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development. Third World Network, Penang, Malaysia., p. 1-2. 16 Morse, S., & Mannion, A. (2009). Can Genetically Modified Cotton Contribute to Sustainable Development in Africa? Progress In Development Studies, 9(3), 225-247. 17 Food and Agriculture Organization. (2014). The State of Food Security in the World 2014, In Brief. Available from http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4037e.pdf (Accessed 19 January 2015).

global food security discourse as a one

primarily concerned with production yet as

we have seen, the issues challenging our

current food system go much deeper than

that. In fact, we produce so much food on

this planet that we can afford to throw a

large portion of it away. Moreover, hunger

and malnourishment are very localized

issues affecting nations, regions, rural and

urban populations, socio-economic classes,

genders and age groups differently.18 In

this regard, a single technological fix such as

GE crops is hardly sufficient to address the

hunger problem which requires locally

adapted solutions, democratic decision-

making and in many cases, the

restructuring of food systems.19 Before

jumping on the technology band-wagon, the

IAASTD has emphasized the following in

order to assess the relevance of a possible

technical solution to a problem within our

food system:20

Engaging all stakeholders in open,

democratic debate about emerging

technologies

Conducting a cost-benefit analysis of

a new technology to better

understand the risks at stake

including the long-term impact on

public health, the environment and

on society

18 Dowd-Uribe, B., Glover, D., & Schnurr, M. (2014). Seeds and places: The Geographies of Transgenic Crops in the Global South. Geoforum, 53, 145-148. 19 Dowd-Uribe, B., et al., 2014. 20 IAASTD, 2009.

University for Peace Policy brief ∙ n° 2015/01

References

Data from the FAO’S Food Security

Indicators, Economic and Social

Development department,

24 January 2013 release, available from

http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-

fs/ess-fadata/en/ (Accessed 19 January

2015).

Dowd-Uribe, B., Glover, D., & Schnurr, M.

(2014). Seeds and places: The

Geographies of Transgenic Crops in the

Global South. Geoforum, 53, 145-148.

Food and Agriculture Organization (2014).

The State of Food Security in the World

2014, In Brief. Available from

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4037e.pdf

(Accessed 19 January 2015).

Food and Agriculture Organization. World

Food Insecurity and Malnutrition: Scope,

Trends, Causes and Consequences.

Retrieved from http://ftp://ftp.fao.org/

docrep/fao/010/ai799e/ai799e02.pdf

(Accessed 19 January 2015).

GMO Compass (2014). GMO Crop Growing:

Growing Around the World. Retrieved

from http://www.gmocompass.org/eng/

agri_biotechnology/gmo_planting/

(Accessed 25 November 2014).

Heinemann, Jack (2009). Hope Not Hype:

The Future of Agriculture Guided by the

International Assessment of Agricultural

Knowledge, Science and Technology for

Development. Third World Network,

Penang, Malaysia., p. 1-2.

International Assessment of Agricultural

Knowledge, Science and Technology for

Development (2009). Agriculture at a

Crossroads: Synthesis Report. Island

Press, Washington, DC.

Morse, S., & Mannion, A. (2009). Can

Genetically Modified Cotton Contribute

to Sustainable Development in Africa?

Progress In Development Studies, 9(3),

225-247.

McMillan, T. (2014). The New Face of

Hunger. National Geographic. Available

from http://www.nationalgeographic.

com/foodfeatures/hunger/ (Accessed 19

January 2015).

National Resources Defense Council (2012).

Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40

Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to

Landfill. Retrieved 25 November 2014,

from http://www.nrdc.org/food/

wastedfood.asp

Ogden, C., Carroll, M., Kit, B., & Flegal, K.

(2014). Prevalence of Childhood and

Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011–

2012. Journal of the American Medicine

Association, 311(8): 806-14.

Pesticide Action Network North America.

(2010). Biotechnology and Sustainable

Development. San Francisco, CA.

Zilberman, D., Kaplan, S., Kim, E., Sexton, S.,

& Barrows, G. (2014). Biotechnology and

Food Security. Journal of International

Affairs, 67(2).