The Potential for Future Crop Loss

Possibility of future crop losses In terms of potential crop loss problems, several variables affect drought and plant diseases, leading to loss of crops. The first variable is a drought variable. Drought is the result of changes in weather patterns that change precipitation in an area. There are three main causes of drought, lack of rainfall, and adverse distribution, overheating, hot air (Nemanishen, 1998, p. 35). Historically, the climate of the North American prairies has changed with years of drought followed by years of rich rain.

These figures vary by region, but on average they are about 20 to 40% of the annual average yield loss. Given the rapid increase in the world's population, this loss is significantly hindering the ability to meet the demand for food production, especially in tropical areas, especially in diseases. Production is affected by various social and environmental problems, but genetically modified crops that are resistant to environmental stresses such as pests and diseases help to reduce the loss of crops. One example is various Bt crops. Bt is an abbreviation for Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium that infects the insect's internal organs. In the 1960 's, proteins responsible for killing infected insects were isolated from Bacillus thuringiensis and used for the production of insecticides. Since these Bt proteins are specific for specific insect species only at working concentrations, they are safe for mammals and other insects, and the gene for that protein was transplanted into plants in the late 1990s.

Two common types of genetically modified crops are insect-resistant (Bt) crops and herbicide tolerant (HT) crops. Bt crops contain genes from Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria and produce insecticidal proteins. HT crops are resistant to herbicides used by farmers to control weeds. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Bt crops and HT crops have more than doubled since the mid 1990s. For example, HT soybeans accounted for only 17% of the US acreage area in 1997, but by 2014 the figure rose to 94%.