Biotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture

This chapter describes the goal of sustainable agriculture which includes the management practices that decrease the sustainability of modern agriculture, how an understanding of basic plant biology could lead to better agricultural products, the ways that the current group of transgenic crops encourages or discourages sustainable practices and the potential environmental impacts of transgenic crops. Biotechnology contributes to sustainable agriculture if it helps farmers maintain the quality and quantity of the biotic and abiotic resources they depend upon or decreases agriculture's consumption of nonrenewable resources. All plants have at least some genetic infrastructure for tolerating water shortages, but only some plants survive droughts. Those that survive are more responsive to external changes in water levels. Perhaps their genetic regulatory mechanisms become activated by smaller changes in water availability, or maybe they have gene duplications for the drought resistance genes. Plant pathogens can be deterred by microbes that kill or outcompete them. Other insects and microbes can control weed populations. In addition, a form of biocontrol can be provided by the crop plant if it produces molecules for defending itself against herbivory and infections. The increased understanding of plant biology provided by biotechnology research applications may lead to products that promote sustainable agricultural practices, such as drought-resistant crops, crops that require less fertilizer, and biological methods of pest control.