The discovery of a patch of genetically modified, pesticide resistant wheat, first developed by Monsanto a decade ago, has triggered yet another debate about the place of genetically altered crops in agriculture.

Grain farmers, activists, and government officials around the world are outraged. The wheat had not been approved for commercial production. It’s made one farmer in Kansas so angry he’s suing Monsanto, alleging the cross-contamination has hurt U.S. grain farmers financially, according to a report.

Meanwhile, the government of Japan has temporarily halted all imports of U.S. White Wheat, while South Korea and Europe continue to test for cross-contamination.

But amid all the bad press, a Harvard professor is arguing that attitudes toward genetically modified technology needs to change, especially as our hungry global population continues to grow.

“Today we acknowledge that given the growing human population, the problem is to feed people,” Calestous Juma told a group of McGill graduates on Monday. “However, opposition to new technologies may cast a dark shadow over the prospects of feeding the world.”

In an interview last week, Juma told iPolitics the debate about genetically modified crops has always been tainted. The debate started before the crops were even introduced in 1996, he said, with much of the opposition based on speculation rather than evidence.

“[At the time of introduction] there was no evidence… that these crops were going to be harmful or not,” he said. “But the rhetoric was built around the view that these crops were likely to have catastrophic consequences for the environment and their health impacts.”

“Then this got, if you’d like, exaggerated.”

This exaggeration needs to stop, he said. As climate change, floods, droughts, and disease continue to impact the world’s agriculture industry, Juma said addressing these challenges “requires a more balanced view that must be guided by evidence.”

“I differ with the people who oppose the technology, because they’re simply saying we don’t need it without having looked at the scale of challenges that many countries actually face.”

This balanced view would include expanding the use of genetically modified crops globally, making them available to farmers in the developing world. Particular focus should be place on Africa, he said, where agricultural development has fallen behind.

Of the 28 countries currently growing genetically modified, or transgenic crops, he said, only four – Egypt, Sudan, Burkina Faso, and South Africa – are African.

Increased use of genetically modified crops would also mean less pesticide use and increase crop productivity, he said.

While Juma said the decision on whether to use genetically modified crops should be left to the farmer, he said the world should be diversifying its range of agriculture technologies, not limiting it.

“Farmers need to have more options, so that when one option fails, the can turn to the the other,” he said. “I see genetic modification as an additional option for the farmer.”