What is Agricultural Biotechnology?

Abstract

Biotechnology, specifically genetic engineering, is the manipulation of an organism's DNA in order to direct that organism to perform a specific and useful task. This is usually accomplished by transferring a section of DNA, or gene, from one organism to another. In agriculture, plant biotechnology is used for crop improvement. This document is SS-AGR-191, one of a series of the Agronomy Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Published May 2003.