Feeding the Next Generation: Science, Business, and Public Policy

Serving as an editor for the December 2011 edition of Science, Technology, and Globalization published by Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Senior Fellow Val Giddings stresses in his introduction that as editors, academics, and practitioners in agricultural innovation, there should be a regonition that biotechnology and genetically modified crops remain controversial to some eyes, despite the robust safety and productivity record of GM crops currently on the market. He does not ask the readers of this volume to accept blindly the positions its authors advance, nor even the volume’s overall conclusion that genetically modified crops can and should play a critical role in agricultural productivity. The primary concern is that scientific findings and analysis remain the key driver of global agricultural research and policy, not manipulated popular opinion or perceptions. The following papers are grounded in that tradition, and offer a roadmap for those interested in objectively evaluating both the risk and benefits of biotechnology in agriculture.