ical breeding. Scientists had to breed thousands of different combinations, study each strain for the desired traits, and then breed thousands more (Pollack). This is a slow process that doesn't always offer substantial results. In order to keep up with the global demand for food from a population that is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2035, something more is needed (Avery).
             With today's technology, we may already have the answer. Instead of mixing together two complete varieties of plants, it would be more efficient to single out the desired traits of one plant and combine it with the desired traits of another (Pollack). This method, known as genetic engineering, can be much more precise when creating new strains and therefore can produce much more efficient crops than classical breeding. At Cornell University, scientists have taken two genes from wild relatives of rice and have genetically inserted them into a high-yield Chinese strain of rice. According to these researchers, this new genetically produced breed of rice could increase the yield of rice plants worldwide by up to 40% (Avery). As for the results of Syngenta's corn breeding, the company decided to try and genetically engineer a solution to the European corn borer problem. By splicing the corn with a toxin found in some bacteria, the company was able to not only improve on its classical breeding results, but it actually eliminated the bug problem completely in only five years (Pollack). This example shows how the benefits
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