Build-a-Crop - Answers
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Genetically Modified Crops - Activity 1 - Build-a-Crop
Genetically Modified Crops - Activity 1 - Build-a-Crop
There has been and outbreak of Rotaway disease that has been infecting crops.
The crop that provides resistance to Rotaway and Shrivel up will work. It provides unnecessary resistance, which means that it will be more expensive to purchase. If it’s too expensive, and the farmer can see that it’s a pest that’s carrying it, the farmer could just try to defend against the pest with a cheaper genetically modified crop or just a basic pesticide, but there’s no information about that. So the farmer might want to do more research into why the disease is there before they invest in an expensive genetically modified crop.
Farmers are having trouble with the Influenzaful mosquito and the Festering worm but they can’t use pesticides since the spotted emu, a local endangered species lives nearby.
Since they can’t use pesticides, they will almost certainly have to go with a genetically modified crop. Sadly this will be expensive for the farmer, since they will have to get a crop with two different modification segments. They will need the segment that protects against the Eatsalot fruit fly as well as the Influenzal mosquito, and also the DNA segment that protects against the Festering worm. This will protect the emu because they are using no pesticides. But it might be so expensive that the farmer might want to take a more creative approach or get a different crop entirely.
Farmers are having trouble since the herbicide Weedbegone they use to stop weeds without killing their crop interacts badly with the pesticide they use to kill the cantankerous caterpillar and the Eatsalot fruit fly, causing toxic fumes.
The crop which has a DNA segment that provides resistance to the Leafeater herbicide is the best choice. We’re positive that it will not react to pesticides, thus no toxic fumes. But it is more expensive. The crop is protected against Plantkilla might work but we don’t know how it reacts with pesticides. It’s a balance of cost and effectiveness.
The Eatsalot fruit fly is believed to be spreading disease Shrivelup to the crops of a group of farmers.
Either the DNA providing J toxins, resistance to E, or both of them could be used to solve the problem. Resistance to Shrivelup would be the best choice for solving the problem of the disease, as producing toxins to the Eatsalot fruit fly would not necessarily prevent them from spreading Shrivelup to the plant before dying. However using both together could be argued to protect the plants from whatever damage the pests might do in addition to spreading the disease. The downside to both segments is that they provide protection from more than just the disease or pest being dealt with, making them more expensive and potentially harming the environment by killing things that you don’t want to kill.
Local farmers are looking for less expensive way to control weeds.
The crop that protects against the herbicide Plantkilla is cheaper than Leafeater, so defending against that could be argued to be the better option. Of course the cheapest way is probably not to go through the expense of genetically modifying the crop at all and take your chances with various herbicides until you find a good one.