The delicious smell of a homemade BBQ fills my nose as I grab as much food as I can get my hands on. A cheeseburger, some baked beans, a little salad and fruit….but where is the corn? This past summer, an unusually hot and dry season struck the Midwest and much of the United States, resulting in a drought covering nearly sixty-percent of the US ("U.S Seasonal Drought Outlook." National Weather Service ). This drought has hit many farmers and their crops very hard, especially corn. According to the National Weather Service, "51 percent of the corn crop was in poor or very poor condition across the 18 primary corn-producing states" (to read more drought statistics click here). The drought has devastated corn crops resulting in a shortage of corn and rising corn prices. For many avid corn eaters, this has had negative impact on many meals that have been missing this tasty summer staple. However, many scientists are working towards bring farmers drought-tolerant corn seeds.
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Photograph by: JOHN SOMMERS II , REUTERS from Vancouver Sun |
Drought-tolerant corn seeds are a type of genetically modified organisms (GMO's) that could offer protection to many crops from hot and dry summers. The drought tolerant seeds would provide farmers with more security in their crops while also giving consumers more better quality corn crops. However, drought-tolerant seeds are not that simple. Genetically modified organisms use a foreign DNA and insert it inside the original DNA to give the food desirable traits. Some studies of GMO's have shown that the consumption of genetically modified foods has been linked to organ failure Although these seeds will provide consumers with more corn crop, it will stir debate about the use of genetically modified organisms. The big debate over GMO's will continue if scientists proceed with their quest to perfect the science of drought-tolerant seeds. But will the surplus in corn be worth the risks of consuming genetically modified corn?
The delicious taste of corn… and where has all the corn gone? It has been sweetening our soft drinks and sweets. Now we are missing the great taste of corn because of the drought. Will this impact the price of Coca Cola and other companies’ products? That cob of corn is probably on its way to either sweeten food, power a car on ethanol, or gone to waste, shriveled up, water starved in a field in Nebraska.
ReplyDeleteIn past years, the United States has over-produced corn and this is why it shows up in foods that we never thought it would be in as a low cost additive. Large corporate America to the rescue! Fooling Mother Nature by modifying the DNA of corn to be drought resistant. It does not sound too appetizing to me. Adding foreign DNA to a crop, making it a GMO, benefits the large corporate company who now controls plant seeds. Sure this may help the farmer, but ultimately they are bound to buy these modified seeds year after year. Where is this going to lead us? Have farmers become the servants of the controlling corporations? The corporations already have driven many famers off the land and into poverty. And who knows what will be the long-term impact of GMOs on our environment and us? The jury is still out on that.