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Preparing Future Generations to Feed the WorldThe Colorado State University Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Managment and Professor Jan Leach, have established an outreach program designed to enhance biotechnology knowledge for K-12 students and teachers. The outreach program is part of a project supported by the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service National Research Initiative Plant Genome Program.
Introducing plant biology to youth The goal of the project is to introduce children and young adults, particularly those in rural Colorado, to the processes of biotechnology and to help them to research the topic and to be able to understand and debate the benefits and drawbacks of genetically modifying plants for human use. At the same time, they encourage a new generation of students to consider plant biology as a field of study to consider when they enter college.
Providing enough high-quality food to feed a growing population One of the many problems the world will soon encounter is to be able to provide enough high-quality food to feed a growing population, even in regions that traditionally have been able to feed themselves. The overuse of scarce resources and the changing quality of our water supplies due to pollution and increasing salinity, as well as the drop in the numbers of people willing to undertake farming, are reducing the amount of productive land for growing important crops. It is now necessary to produce the maximum output possible from the available land and resources. One of the primary ways in which we can achieve this goal is to develop plants that have the ability to consistently produce high yields of nutritious product even in less than ideal growing conditions. The quickest way in which to make these changes often is to biologically modify existing plants so that they can function well in less than optimal environments. This goal will be met by having highly trained scientists who are devoted to this aim, but it also will be necessary to have farmers who are conversant with the new echnologies and understand how they will impact their crops and livelihoods.
Thinking about the food we eat and how it is made The overall theme of the program is to have students think about the food they eat and how it is made. What determines the nutritional quality, allergen levels, and ongoing availability of a particular food? What will happen to our food supply if the crops that are used to make it no longer are available because of environmental changes, disease, or reduced crop production? Some of the laboratory techniques that students learn and use are DNA extraction, gel electrophoresis, restriction enzyme digestion, DNA sequencing, PCR, transformation, and plant tissue culture.
Over 1,000 student and teachers have benefited since 2005 More than 1,300 students and teachers have learned and utilized this program since June 2005, including the following schools: Lonestar School District, Pioneer Elementary School in Johnstown, and Dunn Elementary School in Fort Collins. Several hundred students participating in programs at CSU have worked on the hands-on experiments that are part of the program, and many teachers have been introduced to the program, including teachers from Arkansas and California.
Kits that contain all the materials and equipment necessary to teach all the units in the program are available free of charge for a semester to any school in Colorado.
Original story by Jan Leach, professor of plant pathology, and published in the Spring 2007 College of Agricultural Sciences Ag Family newsletter.
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