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In the contemporary global agrifood system, the emergence of a plethora of new agricultural biotechnologies poses a series of far-reaching social, technical and ethical consequences and contradictions. These tools have radically merged questions of design at the molecular level with those of agricultural change. With more possible technological paths than ever before, the new biotechnologies have made technology choice central in the discourse over the future of agriculture. Implicit in the choice of these technologies is a redesigning of nature that could profoundly transform the agrifood system, ecosystems, and the social organization of agriculture. Indeed, global food production and consumption currently stand on the brink of a fundamental alteration in organizational form, which conceivably could surpass the redistributional outcomes of twentieth-century industrialization of farming, agriculture and the food system.

New agricultural biotechnologies that can design agricultural products at the molecular level are beginning to impact society in social, technical, & ethical ways without the safeguards of democratic rules & regulations. Not only can these methods transform the agrifood system, but they can alter ecosystems, the organization of agriculture, & the development, or lack of development, of Third World countries. As industries create microorganisms, plants, & animals to specifically meet human needs & desires, moral & ethical dilemmas are raised; & the expanded claims to intellectual property rights for genetic advancements could privatize plants & animals that were once public domain. Such changes could take the market of crops such as cocoa, vanilla, sugar cane, & coffee away from Third World countries; & give unprecedented power to large corporations. Most of this transformation is taking place quietly within the private sector without public awareness, input, or decision making. While claims of humanitarian reasons for increasing agricultural output are given, the taking of jobs from Third World countries leaves their peoples without the means of purchasing food & other necessities. The author details current biotechnological advances in plants, enzymes within foods, & animals. While biotechnologies could benefit society, they need to be democraticized to ensure that they are used for beneficial purposes. 1 Table. L. A. Hoffman