Mary Boote
CEO of Truth About Trade and Technology
Expert Bio
Mary Boote serves as Chief Executive Officer of Truth About Trade and Technology, a national nonprofit grassroots group based in Des Moines, IA formed and led by farmers in support of freer trade and access to technology in agriculture. Recognized as one of Iowa’s most skilled political organizers and leading experts on agricultural policy, she served as agriculture adviser to Iowa Governor Terry E. Branstad from 1997 – 1999.
Ms. Boote has participated in agriculture leadership missions to the Soviet Union (1990) and Hungary (1991, 1992) with emphasis on instruction in strategic planning and personal representation for privatized agriculturalists in newly independent countries. In 2009, she participated in an ACDI/VOCA study tour looking at smallholder maize projects in Kenya and Tanzania. Mary Boote also serves as Managing partner for PMI, LLC (Policy Management Interests, LLC), a public policy management firm that provides issue education, grassroots project implementation and fundraising campaign leadership to a variety of projects.
Born and raised on a NW Iowa dairy, pork, corn and soybean family farm, Ms. Boote attended Northwestern College, Orange City, IA. In 2009, she completed the Harvard Business School Agribusiness Seminar.
Studies, Articles and Answers
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Question
A: Biotechnology has been helping farmers around the world increase their productivity, boosting crop yields by providing protection from pests, viruses and poor weather. Genetically modified crops are an important tool that helps the world's farmers sustainably feed a growing world population. We hear many positive stories, based on firsthand experience with biotech crops, from farmers around the world every day. [...]
A: Biotechnology is widely accepted around the world, where farmers have harvested more than 3.5 billion acres of it over the last 20 years. A few of those acres have been mine. I started growing GM crops shortly after the death of my husband. They helped me get my life back together and gave me the financial means to send my children to school. They also put food on the table. I mean this both figuratively and literally because in my home we eat what we grow. Biotech crops aren't merely just okay to eat. They're actually better than non-biotech crops. They allow us to grow more food on less land [...]
A: I've grown non-GM brinjal, a staple vegetable that many people around the world call eggplant, on my farm for many years, so I know the challenges that it presents. The pests are terrible. Fruit and shoot borers can reduce a crop badly or destroy it entirely. Up to now, pesticides have offered the only way to cope. We spray every 15 days on my farm. Some farmers actually overdo it, applying pesticide more frequently, due to ignorance or anxiety. This creates problems for workers in fields and families in kitchens. Biotechnology can change all this. By using the same safe and proven technology [...]
A: We all benefit from GM crops. Millions of farmers around the world know this, and so do the majority of scientists. As a scientist, father and neighbor, I often get this question from people in my community. The short answer is that GM crops help farmers grow crops more efficiently, protect biodiversity and provide all of us with a more abundant and affordable food supply. But the world is adding 200,000 persons every day, and the United Nations estimates the world population will reach 9.3 billion by 2050. And as the population increases and agriculture attempts to increase productivity to [...]
A: Improved nutrition is one of the many exciting things we can achieve through genetic modification. For example, biotech companies such as DuPont Pioneer are close to commercializing soybeans that produce oil with a better nutrition profile than traditional soybean oil. This high-oleic oil has 0 g trans fat and less saturated fat and is higher in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, similar to what you would find in olive oil. In developed countries like the United States, we worry about cutting back on calories, while the challenge in many parts of the world is getting enough. Genet [...]
A: Jacque Matsen, Public Affairs Manager at DuPont Pioneer, discusses the future of GMOs and benefits of the technology. [...]
GMO Basics How GMOs Are Made