Britannica
Sources used in this answer
- plant breeding - Goals
- Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) - Pro 2: Genetic modification improves crop yields, lowers the price of food, and increases nutritional content, helping to alleviate world hunger.
- Agricultural sciences - Plant sciences
- plant breeding - History
- plant breeding - Modifications of range and constitution
How does plant breeding contribute to global food security?
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Plant breeding
Triticale is a hybrid of rye and wheat.
Plant breeding is a fundamental tool for achieving global food security by developing crop varieties that are more productive, resilient, and nutritious. By selecting for desirable traits, breeders create plants capable of thriving in challenging environments, which is increasingly critical as climate change leads to more frequent extreme weather events like droughts and heat waves.12
Key contributions include:
- Increased Yields and Resilience: Modern breeding and genetic engineering allow for the development of crops that resist diseases and pests, and tolerate environmental stressors such as soil salinity or frost. This helps stabilize food supplies and lower prices.123
- Nutritional Improvement: Through "biofortification," breeders enhance the nutritional profile of staple crops—such as increasing lysine in corn or beta-carotene in "Golden Rice"—to combat malnutrition in developing regions.34
- Adaptability and Efficiency: Breeding extends the geographic range of crops and tailors varieties for mechanized agriculture, ensuring more efficient harvesting and production.4
Historically, these efforts were exemplified by the Green Revolution, which utilized improved wheat varieties to significantly boost food production.2