Biotechnology is the key to feeding a world population expected to grow 30 percent larger in the next 25 years, one of the world's leading scientists said last week.

Dr. Norman Borlaug, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the World Food Prize, was the keynote speaker at the fourth annual International Biotech Conference in Des Moines. The conference brought nearly 100 top policy makers from more than 40 countries to Iowa during the peak of harvest season, allowing them to see first-hand biotech and non-biotech corn production and handling.

"Biotechnology is a wonderful tool," said Borlaug, a Cresco, Iowa, native known internationally for saving lives by helping Pakistan, India and several other countries improve their food production in the 1960s.

Borlaug pointed out that plant breeders are simply following Mother Nature's lead in using genetic engineering to increase yields, battle pests, disease and weeds, resist drought and improve the nutritional quality of plants.

Modern bread wheat is the result of a slow, natural crossing of three grass species, Borlaug explained. The only difference, he said, is that modern technology allows genetic improvements to be made much faster.

"I use this to point out the nonsense of those who oppose biotechnology. Mother Nature does the same thing," he said.

The debate over genetically modified food crops needs to end, Borlaug said. He said he resents activists who campaign against biotechnology in Third World countries, creating unwarranted fear and skepticism.

"Most of them have never produced a kilo of food," he noted.

Speak out on benefits

Borlaug called on U.S. colleges and universities to invest more resources in biotechnology programs. He urged farmers to be more active in promoting the benefits of biotech crops.

"Very few scientists have the guts to tell activists what this game of producing food for 6.4 billion people is all about," he said. "You people have to speak out. Otherwise, you lose the game by default."

Without biotechnology, Borlaug said, it will be nearly impossible to feed the world's growing population because of limited potential for cropland expansion.

"Eighty percent of future growth in food production must come from lands already in production," he said.

He said most of that growth will have to occur in countries where the food is consumed because many developing countries lack the infrastructure needed to transport food across long distances.

Technology makes it possible, Borlaug said, marveling at how agriculture has changed since he was a young boy growing up on a small northeast Iowa farm.

"On a good year, (we) harvested 30 bushels an acre (of corn)," he said. Today, 200-bushel corn yields are common.

Borlaug envisions future advances in both yield and nutritional quality.

"I have a dream that someday, we will be able to transfer rice's immunity to rusts to other cereals, such as wheat, maize, sorghum and barley," he said. "I also envision the transfer of bread wheat's protein to other cereals, especially rice and maize. In moving in this direction, wonderful things are starting to happen."

Creating awareness

The International Biotechnology Information Conference is sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council, the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, Nebraska Corn Board and National Corn Growers Association.

In addition to meeting with Borlaug, conference guests toured a crop research laboratory, a farm, a grain elevator and a grocery store.

"Our goal is to foster greater international understanding of biotechnology by giving the decision makers a first-hand look at the entire corn production chain," said Gordon Wassenaar of Prairie City, Iowa Corn Promotion Board past chairman, who hosted the delegation at his farm.

"It really gives them a chance to see U.S. agriculture at its best and experience our way of life both on the farm and as consumers."

The conference aims to expand market opportunities for U.S. farmers by making foreign decision makers more aware of the quality and safety of the U.S. grain supply, said Nebraska Corn Board Chairman Mark Jagels.

"Too often, global policy decisions are being made by individuals who have had no exposure to on-the-ground realities of grain production and handling," he said.