Food insecurity has regrettably been a consistent global challenge, with the number of people affected by hunger consistently rising since 2015. In 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that 828 million people were faced with some aspect of hunger. It’s currently estimated by the FAO that in 2024, roughly 300 million faced acute food insecurity. While some organizations argue that growing more food isn’t the solution to world hunger, their advocacy for a return to organic food production systems that reject the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides is naïve. The only certainty from removing innovation as a tool for improving food security is the continuation of malnourishment and starvation.
Innovations such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides have dramatically improved the production of food. The success of innovation is best exemplified the Green Revolution, which made dramatic increases in food production in many parts of the world. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) identifies that since 1960, food production has increased 390%, population by 260%, and land used to produce food by only 10%.
Further to the evidence on the success of the Green Revolution is the reduction in famine mortalities. The decade of 1961-1970 witnessed a reduction in famine mortality of over 10 million. Regrettably, organic activists today still attempt to spread false information about the successes of the Green Revolution, but they’re unable to refute the overwhelming evidence quantifying the increase in food production and reduction in famine mortality.
Genomic innovations have allowed yields to significantly increase following the commercialization of genetically modified (GM) crops. Between 1995 and 2019, agricultural production in the USA increased by 38% and in Canada by 28%, both of which are leading adopters of GM crops. By comparison, the European Union (EU) rejected GM crops and witnessed a 7% increase in production during this same time period. Without cutting edge innovations, crop yield increases stagnate, as evidenced by the EU.
The American and Canadian yield increases indicate that on average, yields increased by 1.52% and 1.12%, respectively, compared to 0.28% for the EU. Average global crop yield increases for corn, rice, and wheat have averaged under 2% per year between 1990 and 2005. The FAO has estimated that it takes yield increases of 2% per year just to feed the global population when it was 7 billion. With the population now passing 8 billion and rising, yield increases above 2% per year are of vital importance to ensure the number of food insecure doesn’t simply rise in parallel. However, as Table 1 demonstrates, achieving yield increases of 2% per year is extremely difficult and not being achieved.
Gene editing technologies offer a significant advancement in the development of higher yielding varieties, given that there will be ‘low hanging fruit’ that can easily be achieved. This is the case with any new technology: there are always achievements that are more easily achieved at a lower cost, as compared to achievements that take both more money and time. There will be yield increases that can potentially be easily achieved with little cost and time, such as:
As these substantial yield increases are commercialized in crops in food insecure countries around the world, production will immediately rise, making contributions to reducing food insecurity that have not been previously witnessed. These yield increases can be achieved using gene editing technologies with local crop varieties, resulting in no changes in production and consumption patterns. An additional benefit is the potential to also increase the nutrient profile of crops, further contributing to reducing the global challenge of malnourishment.
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