Finally had a chance to catch up on comments on the Avery thread and I have
a few additional thoughts. One of the primary claims of biotechnology
advocates is that biotechnology is going to help save the world from
starvation by increasing yields, but none of the current varieties or any
that I've heard of are even claiming to increase yields. In fact, some,
like the Roundup Ready varieties appear to have slightly lower yields than
their traditional counterparts. Granted, these varieties may have other
benefits, such as reducing the need for pesticides or increasing
profitability, but I'm unaware of any new varieties, either biotech or
otherwise, that have significantly higher yields than existing varieties.
Are any of the companies working on this?
Awhile back some folks were saying that we'd reached a threshold, where
yields of our major crops can't be increased significantly--that it's
physically impossible. I wonder if this is, in fact, the case and perhaps,
when all is said and done, we'll still have to deal with our overpopulation
problems on this earth by reducing our population to a sustainable level
(I'm not saying that this would be an easy task).
Kindest regards,
Laura
Laura Paine
Crops and Soils Agent
Columbia County Agriculture Center
120 West Conant Street
PO Box 567
Portage, WI 53901-0567
608/742-9680
FAX: 608/742-9862
laura.paine@ces.uwex.edu
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