The age of objecting to genetically modified food may soon be history. With the global population set to hit 9.5bn by 2050, scientists are warning that using a combination of high-powered computing and genetic engineering to hack photosynthesis may be our best option to meet the world’s food needs.

The scientists, who have already been running extensive computer models and genetic trials to boost the efficiency of photosynthesis in common crops, said a large-scale implementation of the approach needed to be initiated, in a report published today in the journal Cell.

“We now know every step in the processes that drive photosynthesis in C3 crop plants such as soybeans and C4 plants such as maize,” said report lead author Stephen P Long, professor of plant biology at the University of Illinois.

“We have unprecedented computational resources that allow us to model every stage of photosynthesis and determine where the bottlenecks are, and advances in genetic engineering will help us augment or circumvent those steps that impede efficiency.”

The scientists are looking at adding genes from bacteria and algae that photosynthesise at a wider spectrum of the sun’s light, which could result in plants with higher yields.

“Our lab and others have put a gene from cyanobacteria into crop plants and found that it boosts the photosynthetic rate by 30 percent,” said Long.

Another approach has been to improve the amount of light that reaches the plant’s lower leaves, by making the upper leaves lighter and therefore more light-penetrating. This is being persued using a high-powered computer to model the plant photosynthesising and identify issues that are reducing efficiency.

“The computer model predicts that by altering this system by up-regulating some genes and down-regulating others, a 60 percent improvement could be achieved without any additional resource – so 60 percent more carbon could be assimilated for no more nitrogen,” Long said.

“The next step is to create an in-silico plant to virtually simulate the amazingly complex interactions among biological scales,” said report co-author and plant biology professor Amy Marshall-Colon.

“This type of model is essential to fill current gaps in knowledge and better direct our engineering efforts.”

Writing in the report, the scientists warned that tackling the issue sooner rather than later would help to ensure enough space for crops, as, inevitably, some existing farmland will be swallowed up by development in the next few decades.

The scientists also argued that political, research and regulatory issues need to be tackled now if the approach is to meet food needs by 2050 .

“If we have a success today, it won’t appear in farmers’ fields for 15 years at the very earliest,” said Long. “We have to be doing today what we may need in 30 years.”

However, with legal restrictions on genetically modified food in much of the world, getting people to accept it is essential to our survival may be a significant challenge.