GMO Corn Won’t Save Us From Climate Change
Creative adaptations are needed because of climate change, but they make it easier for policymakers to avoid solving the problem at its root.
GMO crops are as harrowing as they are inspiring. Photographer: Philippe Huguen
The iconic green cornfields of the American Midwest are about to shrink — not in acreage, but in stature. A new genetically modified (GMO) corn varietal stands on fatter stalks and grows less than 7 feet tall, about a third shorter than the height of conventional corn. Dubbed “Smart Corn” by its developer, the German pharmaceutical company Bayer, this well-timed mutant has been designed to withstand the increasingly costly pressures of climate change.
The implications are as harrowing as they are inspiring — and not because stubbier corn is genetically modified. I’ve argued before that GMO crop breeding, which inserts bits of DNA from one species of plant into the genome of another, can be judiciously applied in ways that benefit human health and the environment.