Genetic modification is a topic of hot debate. Should we, shouldn’t we? Although we may see all these developments as being purely financially motivated, there is a lot of research going in to making crops more tolerant to drought or disease, specifically for the less developed countries who need them most. And crops indigenous to those regions are also being studied, in keeping with traditional farming.

In this sense genetically modified crops may provide a solution which is sorely needed, so long as side-effects are carefully researched, and so long as they are made available without crippling restrictive patents and usable without necessitating expensive, specific, patented fertilisers and weed-killers.