It's a brave new world for food producers and consumers. Food Fight: Wisconsin's Biotech Crops, a new documentary from Wisconsin Public Television (WPT), surveys the changed landscape and reports from the front lines.

An estimated 70 percent of food in the grocery store today is created using genetic engineering. Food Fight asks the question, Should consumers care? Sometimes genetic manipulation makes crops such as corn need less pesticide. Sometimes it allows herbicides to be used more easily, which leads to more spraying. Altering genes speeds up a breeding process that can take years through conventional methods.

Food Fight: Wisconsin's Biotech Crops talks with an array of people with perspectives on genetically engineered food. Those appearing include scientists involved with gene research and academics who question unleashing forces into nature that humanity cannot necessarily control. The program talks with a grain farmer using no-till methods, and he says the modified crops reduce the pesticides he puts into the environment - and boost his bottom line. A certified organic dairy farmer says the holistic approach he uses is more in harmony with nature. A representative of the biotech food industry talks of balancing benefits and risks, while a consumer is concerned that engineered food products may mask allergens that affect her children.

Food Fight looks at potential health and environmental impacts of genetically engineered food. It poses questions and finds that there are no easy answers. While the debate is sure to rage on, consumers can find out the lay of the land by watching Food Fight.

Wisconsin Public Television is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and University of Wisconsin-Extension. WPT examines the pressing issues of our time through programs on WHA-TV/Madison, WPNE-TV/Green Bay, WHLA-TV/La Crosse, WHRM-TV/Wausau, WLEF-TV/Park Falls and WHWC-TV/Menomonie-Eau Claire.