By Eric Worrall – Watts Up With That
A new twist in European Genetically Modified Food politics?
Christmas dinners saved by climate change resistant roasties
Date Wed 18 Dec 24
Christmas dinners of the future have been saved by scientists after they created climate-change resistant roast potatoes.
A team from the University of Illinois and University of Essex has developed a heatwave-surviving spud.
With the adapted plant growing 30% more potatoes when under extreme stress in the field – a milestone achievement.
It is hoped this will help families dependent on the staple crop and safeguard its future in a changing world.
The project is a collaboration from the international Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project, led by the University of Illinois.
…
The potatoes were adapted by tweaking a process called photorespiration, a photosynthetic process that has been shown to reduce the yield of soybean, rice, and vegetable crops by up to 40%.
…
Read more: https://www.essex.ac.uk/news/2024/12/18/christmas-dinners-saved-by-potato-research
Potatoes are already versatile and resilient. Maine potatoes which grow in chilly Maine grow equally well in subtropical Bundaberg in Australia.
So why describe high yield potatoes as “climate resistant”? A 40% 30% jump in yield seems an incredibly valuable achievement in its own right.
There is an obvious possible explanation for spinning high yield GM crops as “climate resistant”.
…
Almost all soya beans, cotton and maize now planted in the US are genetically modified, often to resist pests or deal with herbicide use, according to the FDA.
Alongside feeding people, GM maize and soya beans are frequently used to feed animals. More than 95% of livestock and poultry in the US eat genetically modified crops, the FDA says.
In the EU and other parts of the world, GM crops are not widely grown. The EU’s rules require GMO foods to be labelled as such for consumers and permit individual EU countries to ban genetically modified crops, if they choose. Most EU countries do not grow GMO crops.
The EU’s GMO rules still apply in the UK. But, in 2023, the rules in England were eased to allow the development of plants that are genetically edited using modern methods such as Crispr.
Further laws are needed to allow these gene-edited plants – and, later, animals – to be sold in England. The legislation for plants is set to be brought in this summer.
…
In Britain, Europe and Australia, GM food has been subject to a relentless multi-decade fear campaign. GM food is characterised as “Frankenfood”, an unholy conspiracy by uncaring and untrustworthy big agriculture and biotech companies to inflate their profits at the expense of our children’s safety.
But many of the same British and European people who distrust government and big tech assurances about the safety of GM food paradoxically trust government claims that we are in the midst of a climate crisis.
So why not combine the two narratives to see what happens? Obviously we’ll need super crops to survive the mythical coming age of deadly weather extremes and climate change disasters. Perhaps GM is the answer to saving our children’s future.
I could be reading too much into this. Potatoes which grow faster likely are more resistant to heatwaves and other stressors. But it is going to be fascinating to see if mixing GM with climate change narratives leads to greater British and European acceptance of GM.