Production, identity preservation, and labeling in a marketplace with genetically modified and non-genetically modified foods.

As the demand for food and fiber grew during the past 300 years, because of the Earth’s expanding human population and rising per capita incomes, society met this demand first by increasing the land area under cultivation and later by improving crops so that their yields were higher. Before 1900, land was abundant almost everywhere, and in the United States, new lands were brought into production as the frontier moved across the country between 1700 and 1900. In addition, the great crop exchange between different continents permitted high-yielding crops like potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) to be grown in Europe and rice (Oryza sativa) in the United States. Improvement was by selection of the fittest in the new environment. By 1900, the frontier was closed in the United States, and this increased the urgency of finding new methods for increasing crop yields.