Hello to all...
Frementation technology has already had a dramatic impact on global
agriculture and has the potential to restructure the whole north-south
agricultural relationship.
In the early 80's, vat production of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) came
on the scene. This technology uses GM e-coli to chop the cheapest source of
complex carbohydrate available (corn, wheat, potato, rice...) in to HFCS.
My understanding is that within just a few short years after the technical
feasibility of this technology was shown in a lab, Pepsi and Coca-Cola
switched over to HFCS and the world sugar market collapsed never to recover.
My prediction is that in the near future, it will be possible to use
fermentation technologies to cost effectively biosynthesize the
"significant" molecules of nearly all of the commodity crops currently
grown exclusively in the tropics. In factories in temperate regions,
biomass substrates will be converted into instant coffee, tea, cheap
chocolate....
Ofcourse there will continue to be a market for gourmet coffee, tea,
chocolate...
but tropical countries with agricultural export economies will face
significant economic and agricultural restructuring when instant coffee,
tea and cheap chocolate no longer involve a dependency relationship with
the south.
Perhaps traditional ag export countries will actually shift over to growing
food for home consumption... Cuba's post Soviet agricultural restructuring
would be a good model to consider...
My 2 cents...
Joel
Joel Gruver
Visiting Faculty
Principia College
Elsah, Illinois 62028
(618) 374 - 5289
jgruver@principia.edu
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