The increasing interest in crops being harvested for biofuels is likely to reignite discussions concerning genetically modified (GM) crops as agbio companies like Monsanto work to develop specific products optimized for their ease and efficiency in the energy conversion process. Most protests against GM crops have focused on those grown for human consumption, either directly or indirectly. And while support for GM foods has remained consistent over the past 10 years, the opposition has shrunk but not disappeared. Much of Eastern Europe, Russia, France, and Ireland have bans against GM foods. Growth for GM food crops is expected to be driven in the future by China, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Pakistan according to a report by Burrill & Co.
The actual plants chosen to be used for biofuels could actually be different from those also used for food crops, like corn—the current staple for ethanol production in the U.S. Research has found a number of alternative plants, like hemp, that could be greater sources of energy. But, there still is considerable R&D that needs to be performed to choose the optimal biofuel plant. And then, once a plant or series of plants is chosen, the agbio companies will come in and do their GM magic to make the chosen plant easier to be converted into energy or more efficiently processed. Most current genetic engineering is performed to make the resultant plant more resistant to herbicides, allowing farmers to safely apply herbicides to eliminate soil nutrient drains by weeds. These requirements are valid for food crops as well as biofuel crops. But the chance of contamination by GM plants into the non-GM environment for food crops is likely to still be a valid concern for social activists.
