Though not nearly as high profile, the annual World Food Prize award is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize” for agriculture, and this year’s winners - scientists with key roles in developing genetically engineered crops - may bring unwanted attention.
On Wednesday, the winners of the World Food Prize were announced
at the US State Department, with Secretary of State John Kerry in
attendance. This year’s award will be shared among three
scientists: Marc Van Montagu, Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert
Fraley, all pioneers in agricultural biotechnology.
Fraley is currently the chief technology officer at biotech giant
Monsanto, while Mary-Dell Chilton is the founder of Syngenta
Biotechnology, another prominent biotech company. In awarding the
prize, which comes along with a $250,000 cash award, the
Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation reasons that genetically
modified crops offer higher yields, and are more resilient to
pestilence and adverse weather.
"These three scientists are
being recognized for their independent, individual breakthrough
achievements in founding, developing and applying modern
agricultural biotechnology," said Kenneth Quinn, president
of the World Food Prize Foundation.
Though genetically modified foods are generally accepted within
the US, as evidenced by the GMO varieties of soybeans and corn
popular among US farmers, they are not approved for cultivation
in Europe, and their introduction into other markets, such as
India and China, has been limited. Countries in Europe such as
Hungary have gone as far as destroying entire shipments of seed
found to be genetically modified.
Likewise, there is a vibrant number of consumer groups in the US
that strongly advocate against the introduction of other GMO
crops such as wheat for direct human consumption (as opposed to
use in animal feed) and also advocate for GMO food labeling.
Van Montagu, founder of the Institute of Plant Technology
Outreach at Ghent University in Belgium, has said he hoped
"that this recognition will
pave the way for Europe to embrace the benefits of this
technology, an essential condition for global acceptance of
transgenic plants."
The World Food Prize Foundation, a nonprofit organization that
was founded in 1986 at the behest of Nobel Peace Prize winner
Norman Borlaug, honored for his role in the “green revolution,” has been
criticized in the past for its close ties to agribusiness.
If nothing else, a look back at the past winners of the prize
seems to indicate the organization’s emphasis on technology, and
the potential to alleviate mass hunger and increase crop yields.
Last year’s winner of the World Food Prize was Daniel Hillel, who
pioneered food production in the Middle East with a radically new
method of delivering water to crops in arid regions known as
“micro-irrigation.” In the previous two years, the organization
honored NGOs and political leaders that worked to alleviate
hunger.
Regardless, this year’s inclusion of scientists with deep roots
in the biotech field is sure not to sit well with opponents of
GMO crops. Though genetically modified seeds are hailed as a
solution to alleviate hunger and increase crop yields, critics
worry about the legal repercussions of corporate control over
food sources, as well as the loss of biodiversity and potential
impact on the environment.
More controversial is whether GMO foods may produce adverse
health effects by human consumption. Critics of genetically
modified plants point to the possibility of transferring
antibiotic resistance, or the creation of allergens that might
impact both humans and animals.