Welcome to the Council for Biotechnology Information
The Council for Biotechnology Information communicates science-based information about the benefits and safety of agricultural biotechnology and its contributions to a sustainable food chain. Its members are the leading agricultural biotechnology companies.
Thanks to plant biotechnology, Canadian farmers are growing more food per arable acre with a softer environmental footprint. The promise of drought-tolerant crops in the next five years will help farmers cope with climate variability. With increased global demands for food, feed, fibre and fuel, farmers now have broader options to sell some of their high-yielding crops for alternative uses such as bioplastics or biofuels. This earth-friendly technology has been adopted quickly in Canada and is now viewed as part of the EverGreen Revolution around the world.
Addressing Market Access of New Agricultural Biotechnologies
With approximately 80 per cent
of Canadians saying they support
biotechnology, the outlook for
farmers to play a significant role in
addressing some of the world’s most
pressing challenges is good.
That’s important because today’s challenges – like food shortages in developing countries and concerns about energy and the environment – are only going to increase as the world population rises to over 9 billion in a few short decades.
While consumer acceptance in Canada – and indeed in many countries – is high, Canadian farmers and exporters face other challenges to ensure Canadian biotech crops are able to move into foreign markets.
For example the European Union recently restricted shipments of a Canadian crop after trace amounts of genetically modified material were found, despite the fact the material in question had been approved for human consumption under Canada’s internationally respected science-based regulatory system.
This scenario is likely to become increasingly common because technology is so advanced the low level presence of just one genetically modified seed in a sample of 10,000 can be detected, making Canadian exporters vulnerable to extreme and unwarranted financial burdens. Read more »