Farmers have one job and one job only: feeding the world.
To choose such public service as a profession is an honorable feat in and of itself, now more so than ever. The world population is growing at a faster rate than ever. In the next 20 years, the population of the world is expected to grow by 2.2 billion people (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs).
The USDA tells us that the amount of land used as farms is dropping drastically (Farms and Land in Farms 2018 Summary). We know that farmers are not just simply throwing away good land. It is being taken from us by urban encroachment. A more recent estimate says we are losing more than 175 acres of farmland every hour (The American Farmland Trust). The modern farmer is being asked to produce more food than ever on less land than ever. It is quite the daunting task.
If you have ever met a farmer you will understand that they are some of the most resilient people to walk the earth. The weather, the market, the law, technology—everything changes, and farmers do the same thing: farm.
When agricultural technology changes, farmers have two options: do not adapt to it and be left behind by their counterparts who do, or adapt to the new technology and move on.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are one of many new technological advancements farmers have adopted to help them along in the race against the population clock. Notice that I said new technology. Since GMOs have only been on the market since 1994, there is no way to know about their long-term effects on human health.
There are people in this world who believe GMOs are the next plague, that they will give us all cancer and food allergies. That is fine, they are entitled to their opinion. However, even if that were true, we must view this from a greater good perspective.
GMOs allow us to produce amounts of food that can help alleviate mass hunger and nutrient deficiency. For example, The Golden Rice Project is an initiative that brings GMO rice to underdeveloped countries. The rice has been modified to produce mass amounts of vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiencies are detrimental to the health of children in developing countries particularly. They often lead to compromised immune systems, and in severe cases, irreversible blindness (The Golden Rice Project).
In this country we are so fortunate to have access to a food supply and medical care. We often forget that we are blessed to have anything to eat at all. We’ve become spoiled. There are people who would gladly give anything to eat our GMO rice, or apples, or potatoes. It is important that we remain mindful of that and use the technologies we have to help those who are not as fortunate.
I will close by saying this: “Trust your farmer or rancher, not Google.”