Agriculture and Climate Change: The contribution of Biotechnology
Agriculture faces the challenge of providing food in sufficient quality and quantity to meet the demand of a population that will continue to grow and whose purchasing power will continue to increase. In this context of climate change, we must look for the best ways to achieve this goal.
The new technologies allow addressing the needs of mitigation and adaptation of agriculture to climate change, not only from an environmental perspective, but also as part of a process that contributes to the competitiveness of the sector and its positioning in the face of new demands from the consumers.
In the field of mitigation and adaptation to climate change they raise the need for structural changes in the productive matrix of the countries, because in the case of agriculture it implies changes in their relations with other sectors of the economy, which can be accelerated by the decisions of producers regarding the adoption of new technologies and public policies that seek to promote their development.
Public-private collaboration is essential to advance the development and application of new technologies appropriate to the needs of mitigation and adaptation of agriculture to climate change.
On the other hand, the introduction of these new technologies demands the strengthening of the regulatory frameworks related to their use, both in terms of safety with the environment and human health, as well as in the area of property rights and other access conditions.
How can new technologies contribute to agriculture facing these challenges imposed by climate change?
Biotechnology has allowed substantial improvements in the agricultural sector in recent decades, such as biofortification of crops and resistance to pests, diseases and herbicides, among others. More recently, it is used in the production of enzymes, probiotics, pigments, vitamins, amino acids, as well as in the fortification, the lengthening of the useful life and the improvement of the flavor and the nutritional quality.
Biotechnology has been promoted as an adaptation tool in cases such as the development of varieties adjusted to situations of water stress and heat
In the case of the food industry, biotechnology has intensified its contribution in these areas from the remarkable advances in molecular genetics, genetic engineering and bioinformatics that have taken place in the last three decades. The current and potential applications of biotechnology can occur in the following areas:
- In the production of raw materials
- In agroindustrial processing
- In the distribution and marketing
- In the consumption
- In the development of analytical techniques.
Given the questions expressed by consumers in relation to transgenics, the greatest current uses of biotechnology are in the production of raw materials and in analytical techniques.
From an agricultural perspective, biotechnology is increasingly used in the following areas:
- Phyto and zoo-breeding
- Bioenrichment
- Diagnosis and treatment of diseases in plants, livestock and fish
- Production of "oral vaccines" for cattle and fish
- Artificial insemination, ovulation and embryo transplantation
- Animal nutrition
- Faster growth of plant and animal species
- Measurement and conservation of genetic resources
Current biotechnological tools are widely used in the production of enzymes, probiotics, pigments, vitamins, amino acids, flavor enhancers, additives and improved yeasts. All these are compounds used in the processes of industrial transformation of food, obtaining with them a better quality of the products through better organoleptic, chemical or physiochemical characteristics.
There are many aspects of the agri-food industry in which biotechnology has gained space. It has also become an important instrument to verify the authenticity of food and its raw materials. The areas of safety, control of purchases of raw materials, or support for preserved identity systems are some of the areas in which biotechnology can be applied in the distribution and commercialization of food, among many other applications.
Source: Blueberries Consulting - Martín Carrillo O.
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