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Response Details:
In order to feed a growing, hungry world amidst a warming climate, we have to produce more food. Solutions to the problem of how to increase crop yields include both ecology-based farming and biotechnology approaches. But how do we define biotechnology? And can it support progressive approaches to improving prospects for the poor farmers of the world? This series on the issue gathers perspectives from experts who take a hard look at the science, the economics, and the complexities of agricultural development.
Agricultural innovations through modern biotechnology have delivered significant economic, environmental, health and consumer benefits in recent years, but the full potential is even greater. Producers have embraced these innovations wherever they have had access, and consumers have purchased everything produced. The principal obstacle to additional innovations that will extend and expand benefits even further is ill-considered and scientifically unjustified or illogically implemented regulation. While the United States has had a comparative advantage over many other countries with a regulatory regime more closely anchored in science than most, regulations and implementation have not kept pace with scientific advances and accumulated experience.
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