|
Farming going down `the wrong path` on biotechnology Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Jack Davies
Farming needs to undergo `dramatic changes` if it is to meet the needs of a rapidly booming population, warned a leading scientist form one of the world`s biggest biotech firms.
Speaking at the Farmers Guardian sponsored debate at the Healthy Foods European Summit in London this week, David Stark, vice president of Monsanto`s consumer traits division urged the industry to accept new technologies.
He said he was `outraged` that 860 million people in the world go hungry when agriculture had the tools and the potential to rapidly boost food production.
He said: "In the next 50 years we have to produce as much food as we have produced in the history of mankind - how are we going to do that?
"We can`t keep farming the way we have. If we are going to double our yields to meet the demand we need to take a land mass the size of South America and convert it to farmland.
"But the best farmland in the world is already in production, so this is just not sustainable so it`s really easy to get depressed because we are going down the wrong path."
He told delegates that no one company had the answer and called for co-operation from the biotech sector, saying they would need to pull together if there was to be any real change.
He also highlighted his own company`s ambitious pledge to help boost world agricultural production.
"Back in June we made a pledge that for at least the three or four crops we work on - that`s corn, soybean and cotton - we will develop seeds in the next 21 years that will double the yields of today," he said.
"And for every unit or bushel produced in 2030 we will do it using one third less input than we do today.
"So this starts to feel like sustainability to me - producing more and using less. We will be using all the technology we can - some will be GM and some wont."
He was also quick to point out that GM is not a blanket answer to the industry`s problems, urging a `cautious approach` to new technologies.
He said: "We have to be really careful, if we do this through biotechnology it`s a 10 year, $100 million commitment so if we improve seeds using that tool, then to me it really has to be the best way to answer the problem."
Despite the raft of problems he highlighted, he said it was still `the most exciting time in history to be a farmer` because the industry is now well placed to tackle some of the world`s biggest problems.
© 2007 CMP Information Ltd.
Source: Farmers Guardian
|
|
