Time to revisit the conversation on genetic engineering

Karin Wittenberg

Karin Wittenberg, Associate Dean (Research) and Professor Animal Science in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, spoke at the Jan. 22 Visionary Conversations, Who Gets Fed First.

A tease of what she proffered:

“Agriculture has been keeping pace with global demand for food despite the fact that our global land base for food production has been shrinking.  Globalization of the food industry and changing trade policy has helped to connect regions with food surpluses to regions with food deficits. None-the-less, population growth, changing food demands in developing countries and a growing bio-product industry has caused a rise in global food prices. The issue of who gets fed first is not limited to developing nations; food access and nutritional health issues are occurring across the globe. As well, metrics for sustainable food production in the future will mean that we may have to revisit the conversation around genetic engineering, intensive food production systems and animal agriculture.”