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

The more we can grow on already cultivated land, the better.

Civilization depends on our expanding ability to produce food efficiently, which has markedly accelerated thanks to science and technology.

We have domesticated crops over a very long period of time, like tens of thousands of years. And crops get - seeds get carried. Sometimes, if they're very small seeds, they get scattered off trucks. Pollen travels.

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.

As people around the world become more affluent, they are demanding diets richer in animal protein, which will require ever more robust feed crop yields to sustain.

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