Original Article- The Delmarva Farmer, May 37, 2014. May 17, 2014 (Thanks Tim)

Despite continued demonization by purists and conspiracy theorists alike, GMOs-- that is, Genetically Modified Organisms are still on the march.

I work in the agricultural industry. Talk with farmers nearly every day. I even have my own quarter-acre farm plot at home (currently in a cover crop). I'm also very much of an environmentalist, though this has not kept me from seeing the value behind GMOs... or "demon crops," as the Envrio-activists would have you believe. Fact is, GMOs are needed... but I won't get into the reasons why today.

Today I am highlighting one particular GMO... high oleic soybeans. With transfat bans sweeping the nation, there has been increased pressure to develop oils with no transfat content that can still be used to produce foods which traditionally relied on animal fats or vegetable fats containing transfats. What this has led to is the development of new soybean varieties (by Monsanto and DuPont, no less) which have enough Oleic Acid (a monosaturated fatty acid found naturally in many plants and animals, particularly olive oil and poultry) to be marketable.

The Plenish soybean (DuPont) has found more favor than Monsanto's variety, as it contains more Oleic acid (comparable to olive oil, at 75 percent) and has already been embraced by Perdue and Biosynthetic Technologies (A petroleum company).

Perdue likes this soybean because it can replace animal fats in vegetarian-fed chickens and contributes to better chicken health. It has even incentivised Delmarva farmers by offering a premium for growing the beans. Likewise, Biosynthetic Technologies has recently had a soybean-based motor oil produced by their company certified by the American Petroleum institute after it was found to extend engine life.

Large-cap foodservice companies are also starting to eye high oleic beans, since the oil produced from them can handle deep frying without breaking down and is healthier than other cooking oils.

So how did researchers do this? With genetic modification. They used a technique called gene silencing, the same technique used to produce soybeans which are immune to the effects of Glysophate (Round-up).

Broadly speaking, gene silencing is one of the most promising areas of Genetic Modification. It doesn't eliminate genes, but rather supresses their expression. This has proven essential in the field of oncology and pathology in general.

My point is, not all GMOs are bad, and this area of reasearch really deserves a closer look than most people are willing to give it.