> > Michelle and others: [With the] current fascination with
> > biotechnology ... there may well BE no alternatives when
> > the downstream implications of biotech (and resource-
> > intensive agriculture in >general) are more
> > painfully evident. Ann
>
> Hi Ann. Are you suggesting that the organic movement will be
> suppressed or killed? And in what parts of society do we need
> college programmed agriculturists? I'm not trying to be
> sarcastic; I'm just curious what it'd mean if we don't have
> the proper eggheads to guide agriculture. Can you spell it
> out a little more clearly for us? And can you spell out
> your proposals for remedying the potential disaster? Aloha. Lloyd
I think I feel somewhat like Ann does, but I don't see the issue as a
conventional vs sustainable conflict, and I don't see it completely as an
academic vs "real-life" issue. I see it as a breadth-of-vision thing. When
the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Maybe this is just sour-grapes from a non-molecular-type, but I feel like
there are a lot of narrow-minded people out there who are good salesman for
their narrow-minded ideas. I think it is human nature to look for the
silver-bullet solutions, the revolutionary, the novel, and forget about
familiar solutions that in some cases are more efficient.
It is scary seeing real agronomic expertise slip away in the public sector.
Very few North American kids are majoring in agronomy anymore. We can find
lots of people with degrees in agribusiness who want to become "agronomists"
(ie. management trainees), but I can't help thinking that we need applied
biologists too.
Dale
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