Producing Better Crops

Soybeans are a widely used produce with a high global demand. There are several uses of soybeans, and these include, but are not limited to, various food additives and feed for livestock. In recent years over half the total harvest of soybean crops was genetically modified.

The three leading countries for soybean productions is the United States, Brazil and Argentina. The crops in the United States and Argentina are almost exclusively genetically modified. Due to their similarity, genetically modified soybeans are treated just like regular soybeans during harvesting, shipment, processing and storage.

Researchers are currently trying to determine ways of increasing and improving soybean crop longevity, size, durability, resilience and content. One example is the “Round Up Ready” soybeans which demonstrate these qualities. These particular soybeans have been modified to resist the weed killer, “Round up”. This allows the soybeans to continue growing once sprayed while neighbouring plants of different species are killed. These attributes are desired for better value on each harvest.

This is only one example of a genetically modified food, and there are many more that have had varying levels of success. This is due to the controversy that still surrounds the idea of genetic modification as some see it as ‘playing god’ and some countries have total bans on genetically modified foods.

Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden
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