3. Commercial Use of Plants

What you need to know...
  • Describe some commercial uses of plants.
  • Explain what is pharming.
Notes 
Commercial uses of plants
Plants are grown to provide food, fuel, raw materials, medicines and more. Growers are keen to maximise their yield of plants to maximise their profit. You have already seen how some growers ensure that limiting factors do not inhibit the growth of their plants. 
 
Picture from Wikimedia Commons
Wheat is commercially grown to make food like bread biscuits, pasta and cereal.
 
Pharming
Pharming is a new technology which involves genetically engineering plants so that they produce medicinal products. It is hoped that this could eventually be a cheap way to mass produce medicines. It is conceived that it might even be possible to deliver medicines or vaccines in ordinary foods.
 
Read more about this new technology here in this article from the Guardian newspaper.