Agricultural biotechnology for sustainable food security

Agata Tyczewska, Tomasz Twardowski, Ewa Woźniak-Gientka

Published: January 27, 2023. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.12.013

Highlights

• - The COVID-19 pandemic and the geopolitical instability in Europe call for coordinated efforts from scientists, farmers, producers, and consumers to ensure food security.
• - Recent progress in molecular biology and biotechnology creates hope for the future. Using genetic engineering techniques, scientists continue to improve crops, aiming to diminish the losses caused by biotic and abiotic stresses and to increase yield.
• - There is an urgent need for communication between scientists and society based on reliable scientific knowledge, as is appropriate legislation.

Figure 1: Potential applications of agricultural biotechnology in food security, land conservation, waste reduction, reduced emissions, water preservation, and carbon sequestration.

Abstract

Of late, global food security has been under threat by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the recent military conflict in Eastern Europe. This article presents the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal related to achieving food security and sustainable development in European Union (EU) agriculture, taking the aforementioned threats into account. In addition, it discusses the future of plant agricultural biotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) systems, considering their potential for reaching the goal of food security. Paradoxically, the present challenging situation may allow politicians and stakeholders of the EU to realize opportunities and use the potential of the biotechnology sector.

See https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/fulltext/S0167-7799(22)00341-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0167779922003419%3Fshowall%3Dtrue