What is Biotechnology? Biotechnology is the use of organisms, parts of organisms, or processes done by organisms to help humans/make human life easier. Humans have used biotechnology for thousands of years. Agriculture and selective breeding of organisms and the production of products like soy sauce, alcohol, and leaved bread are examples of this long use of biotechnology. While biotechnology still makes use of selective breeding of organisms and the use of organisms to make products, modern biotechnology has increased its focus on using and manipulating the DNA of organisms.