The spring term at GCE has come to a close and this is the final Action Project Posted for this school year. This post is for the third Action Project for the class Food in the STEAM course. This Action Project was all about our position on GMOs. In this unit we learned about the different methods of plant breeding and environmental impacts on some of our agricultural production. We also covered a lot of genetics and probabilities to see which genes would be dominant or recessive in genes. This action project had to include our own opinion on GMOs. From this we would create our own, small debate. The side that I chose for this AP was against GMOs. This AP also needed a couple graphs that showed some data based off of our arguments. For this project I wrote out my debate which will be shown here including all of the graphs and a video presentation of it.
When Justin Dammann goes to plant corn in his 2400 acre farmland he will sow plants grown without genetically modified seeds. Dammann and other Midwest farmers like himself have developed a growing interest in non-GMO foods and how effective they are for their operations. The movement for more non-GMO food products has gained quite some traction by consumers trying to make their point clear that they are willing to pay a little more for GMO free foods. For Dammann this return to non genetically modified farming has been a great help. Consumers have demanded more GMO free products because of health and safety concerns which has made individual farmers and a few commercial companies respond to this opportunity. More and more individual farmers have been trying to start their own farms but the acres to do it are not available. The demand is high however a lot of large businesses are not interested in making the switch.
I am here to argue that genetic modification is not the answer for our agriculture, economic, and health systems. Genetically modified organisms can be a danger to our agricultural production, are not the solution to ending world hunger, and are a risk to our health and safety.
Farming with genetically modified seeds or crops costs a good amount of money. You have to pay for the seeds and their extra amounts of water. You even have to pay for loads of fertilizer and chemicals. When growing genetically modified crops it costs more than growing crops organically. The cost of the biotech seeds and the fertilizer it requires can be quite expensive when dealing with many acres of land to produce your crops. Some farmers have to use the genetically modified crops to support themselves because they are not making a whole lot of money. With the added costs of resources that are required when growing with GM crops the farmers continue to struggle with their income. Currently, a large portion of our agriculture in the United States are monocultures. They are multiple acres of farmland only producing one single type of GM crop such as corn or soybeans. One major weakness for monocultures is the risk of pests and disease. According to PBS, “GM crops will also further our reliance on vast monocultures.” If we are only using the few varieties of crops we have left, the possibility of disaster is very high. If one disease or a small pest were to find your farmland full of ready to be harvested corn and kills just one, it will spread in record time. In the case of a pest, more would come along to destroy the rest of your fields and for disease, it would just make its way around to every plant in its path with a developed immunity for the chemicals your corn is doused in to protect it from this scenario.
A lot of genetically modified crops have been created so our efficiency of agricultural production is faster. By increasing our agricultural efficiency we are shortening the time that it takes for our food to ripen. The downside to this is the quality of the food can be decreased from not having enough time to naturally produce its vitamins or proteins. This causes a lack in nutrition which can also come from the rising levels of carbon dioxide. This is a result of the use of pesticides in our genetically modified crops that can contribute to air pollution. According to Scientific American, “Studies have shown that crops as varied as wheat, maize, soybeans and field peas contain less protein, zinc, and iron when grown under levels of carbon dioxide.” If these foods are nutritionally lacking, world hunger cannot be solved from this. With small amounts of nutrition in our food, it is possible that we are starving ourselves of nutrients while still gaining weight. Foods without any proteins or vitamins are basically empty calories which is not truly filling us up meaning we will still be hungry. In fact a good amount of food production that has fed developing countries is small scale agriculture that does not rely on genetically modified crops. Also, a lot of the foods or ingredients that are very easy to find today can be harmful to the human body. Genetically modified corn for example has been linked to many health problems such as weight gain or organ disruption. Milk has had growth hormones found in it from the cows that were given the growth hormones to help them mature faster and increase their yield. These growth hormones have been shown to act inside the human body as well.
We have used our genetically modified crops to produce feed for animals. Our livestock that we eat is being fed genetically modified corn when they should be eating grass. The animals are not able to eat what they were naturally designed to consume and that throws off the animal’s natural processes. The feed of the animals is the genetically modified corn that isn’t the best for humans to eat and yet we are still consuming it through our livestock. Not all of the feed is fully digested and it is caught in the meat that is cut and packaged and put into our bodies. This can raise some health risks for some people that do not have as strong immune systems to process the feed and meat mixture. Additionally, our cattle for example that are being fed corn is not beneficial to us or our operations of food production. Nowadays people rely on massive food production systems to give us the food we need to live so we can have a happy lifestyle. Farmers and ranchers feed their cows GM corn because it can make the cow grow faster and have more meat on its body. That may seem like a good thing if we can have more beef from just one cow but the cattle’s digestive system isn’t designed to operate on corn feed. Cows that are consuming a lot of corn are more susceptible to E. coli infection. In turn we can be exposed to E. coli and other infections that our bodies aren’t made to handle. In this chart it shows the amount of corn being used for feed in tons over the past 10 years.
From these statistics we can see that there is close to 150 million tons of corn this year that has been genetically modified and being used for animal feed. The only reason why corn would be put into silage or stored is for feed. The percent change for this graph would be .24 from 2010 to 2019 but that is still a large number since we are measuring in tons. If we compare this data to that of this second graph we can see how many acres of corn are planted per year. In this data set it shows from 2010 to 2020 there has been a 10 million increase in acres of corn planted. This shows that our agriculture continues to increase but there is still a very large number of how many acres that corn is genetically modified and also going into animal feed.
Some arguments for GMOs say that these crops could be faster adapting to climate change and global warming. They may also say that the genetically modified foods can gain more nutrients in the future by adding those vitamins into the DNA. However, the large use of pesticides and other chemicals used on GMO crops is a contributor to global warming as they are an extreme air pollutant. Also, the changes to the DNA for the modified foods is not in full effect yet and our concern should be rested upon the current events. What is going on now regarding our food is more important than guessing what will happen in the long run because our current changes can change our future to be better or worse.
Farming with genetically modified seeds or crops costs a good amount of money. You have to pay for the seeds and their extra amounts of water. You even have to pay for loads of fertilizer and chemicals. When growing genetically modified crops it costs more than growing crops organically. The cost of the biotech seeds and the fertilizer it requires can be quite expensive when dealing with many acres of land to produce your crops. Some farmers have to use the genetically modified crops to support themselves because they are not making a whole lot of money. With the added costs of resources that are required when growing with GM crops the farmers continue to struggle with their income. Currently, a large portion of our agriculture in the United States are monocultures. They are multiple acres of farmland only producing one single type of GM crop such as corn or soybeans. One major weakness for monocultures is the risk of pests and disease. According to PBS, “GM crops will also further our reliance on vast monocultures.” If we are only using the few varieties of crops we have left, the possibility of disaster is very high. If one disease or a small pest were to find your farmland full of ready to be harvested corn and kills just one, it will spread in record time. In the case of a pest, more would come along to destroy the rest of your fields and for disease, it would just make its way around to every plant in its path with a developed immunity for the chemicals your corn is doused in to protect it from this scenario.
A lot of genetically modified crops have been created so our efficiency of agricultural production is faster. By increasing our agricultural efficiency we are shortening the time that it takes for our food to ripen. The downside to this is the quality of the food can be decreased from not having enough time to naturally produce its vitamins or proteins. This causes a lack in nutrition which can also come from the rising levels of carbon dioxide. This is a result of the use of pesticides in our genetically modified crops that can contribute to air pollution. According to Scientific American, “Studies have shown that crops as varied as wheat, maize, soybeans and field peas contain less protein, zinc, and iron when grown under levels of carbon dioxide.” If these foods are nutritionally lacking, world hunger cannot be solved from this. With small amounts of nutrition in our food, it is possible that we are starving ourselves of nutrients while still gaining weight. Foods without any proteins or vitamins are basically empty calories which is not truly filling us up meaning we will still be hungry. In fact a good amount of food production that has fed developing countries is small scale agriculture that does not rely on genetically modified crops. Also, a lot of the foods or ingredients that are very easy to find today can be harmful to the human body. Genetically modified corn for example has been linked to many health problems such as weight gain or organ disruption. Milk has had growth hormones found in it from the cows that were given the growth hormones to help them mature faster and increase their yield. These growth hormones have been shown to act inside the human body as well.
We have used our genetically modified crops to produce feed for animals. Our livestock that we eat is being fed genetically modified corn when they should be eating grass. The animals are not able to eat what they were naturally designed to consume and that throws off the animal’s natural processes. The feed of the animals is the genetically modified corn that isn’t the best for humans to eat and yet we are still consuming it through our livestock. Not all of the feed is fully digested and it is caught in the meat that is cut and packaged and put into our bodies. This can raise some health risks for some people that do not have as strong immune systems to process the feed and meat mixture. Additionally, our cattle for example that are being fed corn is not beneficial to us or our operations of food production. Nowadays people rely on massive food production systems to give us the food we need to live so we can have a happy lifestyle. Farmers and ranchers feed their cows GM corn because it can make the cow grow faster and have more meat on its body. That may seem like a good thing if we can have more beef from just one cow but the cattle’s digestive system isn’t designed to operate on corn feed. Cows that are consuming a lot of corn are more susceptible to E. coli infection. In turn we can be exposed to E. coli and other infections that our bodies aren’t made to handle. In this chart it shows the amount of corn being used for feed in tons over the past 10 years.
From these statistics we can see that there is close to 150 million tons of corn this year that has been genetically modified and being used for animal feed. The only reason why corn would be put into silage or stored is for feed. The percent change for this graph would be .24 from 2010 to 2019 but that is still a large number since we are measuring in tons. If we compare this data to that of this second graph we can see how many acres of corn are planted per year. In this data set it shows from 2010 to 2020 there has been a 10 million increase in acres of corn planted. This shows that our agriculture continues to increase but there is still a very large number of how many acres that corn is genetically modified and also going into animal feed.
Some arguments for GMOs say that these crops could be faster adapting to climate change and global warming. They may also say that the genetically modified foods can gain more nutrients in the future by adding those vitamins into the DNA. However, the large use of pesticides and other chemicals used on GMO crops is a contributor to global warming as they are an extreme air pollutant. Also, the changes to the DNA for the modified foods is not in full effect yet and our concern should be rested upon the current events. What is going on now regarding our food is more important than guessing what will happen in the long run because our current changes can change our future to be better or worse.
In conclusion, I believe we should not use should not use GMOs because they are not the answer for our agriculture, economic, and health systems. I encourage you to find some research yourself to create your opinion and if you already have one that is great. The future is what we make it and if we continue to rely on GMOs our future might not be a bright one.
I enjoyed working on this AP and I hope it can help someone else who is trying to form an argument for or against GMOs. As all of the other action projects were this term, this was all done at home due to the global pandemic. Before these APs were posted a few of my classmates and I had a small debate and it was interesting to hear their arguments. As I said in the introduction of this post it is the end of the school year so there may only be one or two more posts before a few months break. I have extremely loved this first year at GCE. It has been a wild adventure full of many experiences and this staying at home situation has developed a new experience. I am very excited for my sophomore year and I hope to see you in the next blog post.
Sources:
I enjoyed working on this AP and I hope it can help someone else who is trying to form an argument for or against GMOs. As all of the other action projects were this term, this was all done at home due to the global pandemic. Before these APs were posted a few of my classmates and I had a small debate and it was interesting to hear their arguments. As I said in the introduction of this post it is the end of the school year so there may only be one or two more posts before a few months break. I have extremely loved this first year at GCE. It has been a wild adventure full of many experiences and this staying at home situation has developed a new experience. I am very excited for my sophomore year and I hope to see you in the next blog post.
Sources:
“United States Department of Agriculture.” USDA.
“Harvest of Fear: Should We Grow Gm Crops?” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service.
Johnson, Nathanael. “Are GMOs Worth Their Weight in Gold? To Farmers, Not Exactly.” Grist, Grist, 11 Nov. 2013.
Monaco, Emily. “3 Reasons GMO Foods Aren't More Nutritious than Conventional.” Organic Authority, 6 July 2016.
Do Genetically Engineered Foods Have Changes in Nutritional Content?
“Top 10 Most Common GMO Foods.” Cornucopia Institute, 19 June 2013.
“Myths & Facts.” Pesticide Action Network.
Suglia, Elena. “Vanishing Nutrients.” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 10 Dec. 2018.
Doering, Christopher. “Farmers Turn to GMO-Free Crops.” Des Moines Register, Gannett, 18 Apr. 2015.
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