Genetically modified corn is welcome but won’t help much
The iconic green cornfields of the US Midwest are about to shrink—not in acreage, but in stature. A new genetically modified (GMO) corn varietal stands on fatter stalks and grows about a third shorter than the height of conventional corn. Dubbed ‘smart corn’ by its developer, 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 for global benefit. Short-stature corn is harrowing because it’s yet another recent example of an ingenious adaptation that’s making it easier for policymakers, investors and voters to avoid solving the challenge at hand: climate change.
New methods of acclimating to the climate crisis are worth celebrating, but they should also be considered a clarion call to solve the problem at its root. Bayer’s smart corn was recently determined by the US department of agriculture to be safe for American farmers to grow. It still requires sign-off from the Environmental Protection Agency, pending reviews of its ecological effects.
Approval is likely, in part because many other GMO crops have already been deemed environmentally benign. Moreover, this is one of the first crops designed for the purpose of addressing environmental factors. Damage to corn and soy crops is becoming more costly as high-wind storms intensify in the climate change era.
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