Nicola J. Patron

World population is growing by 74 million people per year. We may need to produce as much as 70 percent more food by 2050 without increasing agricultural resources. Bioengineering is not a silver bullet for preventing food scarcity—synthetic biology cannot make the rain come or ensure fair distribution of food, but it can be used to detect and respond to disease outbreaks, reduce the use of agrochemicals, and improve nutritional value.