Bioengineering Tools and Services for Agriculture – Focus on Genetically Modified Crops and Public Perceptions

Abstract

The field of bioengineering has delivered several new technologies for precision agriculture and genetically modified crops and livestock. There is even greater potential to leverage the tools developed by bioengineering within agriculture to improve the productivity, resilience, and health of our crops and livestock while mitigating the effects of climate change and environmental stress. In this review, we discuss the current and future potential of bioengineering in improving farm practices and providing accessible and equitable technologies to achieve the goals of sustainable farming. We focus on bioengineering techniques for genetically modified crops and mobile technologies that could help with farm decision support to address the field challenges in crop monitoring and improving productivity in a sustainable manner. We talk about the challenges in adopting bioengineering tools by the farmers and changing the public perceptions around genetically modified crops and livestock. Understanding the challenges in the field by farmers while being aware of the technological potentials is critical in adapting and improvising new technologies for the greater benefit of the farming communities.