Our country is blessed with the most diverse and affordable food supply on the planet.
We owe this to smart farm policy, the innovations of technology and chiefly to the “thin green line” of only 210,000 full-time U.S. farms that take on tremendous financial risks each year to produce a product that is safe, abundant and uniquely American.
At Farm Policy Facts, we believe all of our farms are important, and each fulfills a unique and essential role in feeding an increasing population that is expected to grow from 7 billion to 9 billion over the next 40 years.
One of the downsides to our modern food production system, however, is the vast majority of our population is completely, or nearly completely, disconnected from agriculture. This disconnect makes it easy for some to prey on emotion to further their own personal agendas.
Take the issue of genetically modified foods (GMOs), for example, which have come under scrutiny despite the fact that the technology has been used safely for two decades.
Farmers select GMOs to reduce yield loss or crop damage from weeds, diseases, and insects, as well as from extreme weather conditions, such as drought. Farmers also choose to use GMOs to reduce the impact of agriculture on their environment and their costs.
Despite this, misinformation abounds—and poses a threat our farming futures. Without GMOs, and without new technologies that tomorrow will bring, global agricultural production will be unable to keep pace with population growth. That’s why these technologies are so important to agriculture and why conventional farmers play such a key role in the agricultural community—just as organic producers and other farmers are integral.
To address this, FPF is pleased to announce the addition of a new tool to our homepage that enables consumers to get quick answers to their questions about this technology.
This GMO widget is a product of GMO Answers. GMO Answers was created to make information about GMOs easier to access and understand.
We invite you to visit our page and submit your questions to learn more.