The influence of a science adviser is only as good as ears open to that science advice.

Even as the population doubled from three to six billion, we managed to race ahead with all kinds of technological and scientific events in agriculture - from using more fertilizers to mechanization to advanced plant breeding.

I don't know how you overcome the dearth of scientists in the government positions.

We've gotten so good at growing food that we've gone, in a few generations, from nearly half of Americans living on farms to 2 percent. We no longer think about how the wonderful things in the grocery store got there, and we'd like to go back to what we think is a more natural way.

India has the opportunity to be a leader in genetic engineering, It has institutions that no other country has.

If everybody switched to organic farming, we couldn't support the earth's current population - maybe half.

Myths about the dire effects of genetically modified foods on health and the environment abound, but they have not held up to scientific scrutiny. And, although many concerns have been expressed about the potential for unexpected consequences, the unexpected effects that have been observed so far have been benign.