Plant breeding has been around for hundreds of thousands of years. When people in the modern era of the human species think about plant breeding, most thoughts turn towards genetically modified organisms or GMOs for short. However, plant breeding doesn’t just involve genetically modified organisms. Plant breeding can be much less complicated. Farmers have bred plants for longer than the lifespan of genetically modified organisms. Early farmers’ version of plant breeding was as simple as choosing seeds from their plants that produced the most crops. This method of plant breeding existed over 10,000 years ago (“HISTORY OF Plant Breeding,” n.d.).
The history of plant breeding has to begin with Gregor Mendel, the acclaimed father of modern genetics. …show more content…
Food security is defined by the ability of farmers to continuously grow more crops to ensure that food levels never get below a survivable amount. Plant breeding accomplishes this because through plant breeding crops are created with higher yields and faster growth rates. It has been found that “plant breeding is responsible for about 50% of crop productivity increase over the last century (“The importance of Plant Breeding,” n.d.).” As plants continue to produce more food, the social benefit of plant breeding is achieved. The social benefit of plant breeding is that it can help to decrease poverty and feed more people. When more of a certain type of plant is produced, the prices of that plant go down allowing people to spend less money on feeding themselves and letting them save money to buy other needs. The economic and environmental benefits of plant breeding sort of tie together. High crop yields and growth rates aren’t the only characteristics farmers can select for when breeding plants. They can also choose to breed plants that are drought resistant, “less dependent on pesticides or more efficient in water or nutrient use (“The importance of Plant Breeding,” n.d.).” The trait of drought resistance that can be bred for in plants works to stop the events that happened during the Dust Bowl to repeat themselves. When a plant uses water and nutrients more efficiently, it allows farmers to conserve water and nutrients to be used for other plants which keeps more water and nutrients in the environment. Pesticides harm the environment so, if plants can become less dependent on pesticides, it will reduce the harmful effects that pesticides cause on the
The history of plant breeding has to begin with Gregor Mendel, the acclaimed father of modern genetics. …show more content…
Food security is defined by the ability of farmers to continuously grow more crops to ensure that food levels never get below a survivable amount. Plant breeding accomplishes this because through plant breeding crops are created with higher yields and faster growth rates. It has been found that “plant breeding is responsible for about 50% of crop productivity increase over the last century (“The importance of Plant Breeding,” n.d.).” As plants continue to produce more food, the social benefit of plant breeding is achieved. The social benefit of plant breeding is that it can help to decrease poverty and feed more people. When more of a certain type of plant is produced, the prices of that plant go down allowing people to spend less money on feeding themselves and letting them save money to buy other needs. The economic and environmental benefits of plant breeding sort of tie together. High crop yields and growth rates aren’t the only characteristics farmers can select for when breeding plants. They can also choose to breed plants that are drought resistant, “less dependent on pesticides or more efficient in water or nutrient use (“The importance of Plant Breeding,” n.d.).” The trait of drought resistance that can be bred for in plants works to stop the events that happened during the Dust Bowl to repeat themselves. When a plant uses water and nutrients more efficiently, it allows farmers to conserve water and nutrients to be used for other plants which keeps more water and nutrients in the environment. Pesticides harm the environment so, if plants can become less dependent on pesticides, it will reduce the harmful effects that pesticides cause on the