ABSTRACT
Food production will have to triple to feed the anticipated world population of approximately 12 billion by 2050 (Population Reference Bureau, 2002). Much of the worldwide arable land and freshwater resources are already strained, leaving only one viable option for increasing food production: to increase yields on available land, despite diminishing water resources and increasing environmental degradation (Serageldin, 1999; Chrispeels, 2000; Vasil, 2003). Transgenic crop technology is among the more promising means of meeting world food needs using stagnant or declining land and water resources, while preventing soil and water degradation.
