Each year in October, when the Iowa countryside transforms from gorgeous summer greens to harvest season hues of tan, some of the world’s top agricultural scientists and anti-hunger activists gather in Des Moines to compare notes. The occasion is the presentation of the annual World Food Prize.
Since 2000, the percentage of genetically engineered corn planted in the United States has grown from 25 percent to 92 percent in 2016. But unless yields increase significantly, experts say the world will not be able to grow enough food to feed itself by 2050, with food shortages anticipated as soon