Science

Emily Cassidy, EWG Research Analyst

Growing food is essential to our survival, but agriculture takes a major toll on the environment. In the coming decades, humanity will face the challenge of
increasing food supplies for a burgeoning population while reducing food production’s impact on the planet’s land, water, and air.1 Biotech companies and proponents of conventional, industrial agriculture have touted genetically engineered crops (often called GE or GMOs) as the key to feeding a more populous, wealthier world,2 but recent studies show that this promise has fallen at. To date, genetically engineered crops have not substantially improved global food security. Meanwhile, strategies that take advantage of what we already know about using resources and crops more efficiently have shown the potential to double food supplies while reducing agriculture’s environmental impact.