What are the technical challenges that are limiting the use or adoption of genetically modified plants or crops?

Question

For example, what's preventing scientists from using plants to produce high value materials at large quantities? Or create a single plant with a multitude of nutrients to prevent disease?

Answer 1

From what I have been taught, many foods have been genetically modified to produce food in both larger quantities and higher qualities. The reason these foods are not widely adopted is because it is not yet known how eating genetically modified foods affects the individual. GMOs are new enough that we do not know the long-term consequences of eating them. For instance, genetic modification may have caused an undesired property in the food that is not detected until time has passed and we see the consequences in our bodies. Because of this, I don't think scientists want to change many different properties of the plant that would prevent diseases but may also cause a multitude of undesired characteristics in the plants. Unfortunately, pathogens to which plants could be altered to resist can also evolve to overcome the new defenses of the genetically modified plant.