POSTED SEP 19, 2002 |
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Starving Sudanese children wait for a meager portion of food. Congressman Frank R. Wolf Sudan photos.
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What
are we gonna eat tonight? That may be a nightmare question for a working homemaker, but it's even more vital for those of us who like to eat (a category that includes Why Filers).
Traditionally, farmers made the new strains by selecting and planting seed from their best plants. Eventually, plant breeders built on that background using sophisticated versions of the same essential strategy -- crossbreeding plants to mix their genes, then testing plants with the new traits, then finally offering the varieties to farmers. Plant breeding may be the oldest science. Indeed, primitive plant breeding was essential to the invention of agriculture, which, in turn, allowed the flowering of civilization -- and the other sciences. But now, even though it's harvest season in the Northern Hemisphere, most people don't give plant breeding a second thought. And that's despite the disturbing news from the Food and Agriculture Organization that per-person grain production peaked during the 1980s, then fell during the 1990s.
Little extra land is available for cropping, so increasing the yield per hectare is the only way to improve production. And increasing yield depends on new plants and new agricultural techniques that produce more tonnage per hectare, resist pests and diseases, and grow in poor soil or dry conditions.
The fall army worms savaged these leaves at the CIMMYT plot. © David Tenenbaum A disappearing breed It's partly a matter of money, says Goodman. After a retirement, most major research institutions want "to only hire people who can support themselves on federal grants. At the moment plant breeding is essentially not supported by any federal grant agencies," in distinct contrast to molecular biology and genetic engineering.
"There has been a decline in funding for applied research in the public sector, including crop breeding," says William Tracy, a University of Wisconsin-Madison agronomy professor who is chair of the maize crop germplasm committee, which advises the U.S. Department of Agriculture on issues concerning its collection of corn germplasm (reproductive material). "The current funding models run two to three years, but a plant breeding program tends to need decades." Eating? Thank a plant breeder... Enthusiasts -- many working at companies that do genetic engineering -- say the technology could feed the world. And genetically modified (GM) seeds have caught on fast. The Times of London reported on Jan. 24, 2002 that global plantings of GM crops reached 52.6 million hectares, or 130 million acres, up 19 per cent over 2000.
But will this help us eat? GM seed producers in the United States have not concentrated on new strains of rice that grow in dry years or corn that has a higher yield. Instead, the biotech biz grinds out crops that make insecticide or resist herbicide. These are not, critics say, traits that will feed the world. The issue we're discussing is different from the cautions we often hear about genetically engineered crops -- that they are dangerous to the environment or to human health. (As we write, the Zambian government is refusing to distribute thousands of tons of U.S.-supplied, genetically modified corn. Zambia says the grain endangers the health of its famine-wracked population.) The question we are raising may be seldom heard,
but it's monumentally important:
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3 pages in this feature. Terry Devitt, editor; Sarah Goforth, project assistant; S.V. Medaris, designer/illustrator; David Tenenbaum, feature writer; Amy Toburen, content development executive ©2002, University of Wisconsin, Board of Regents. |