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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] what's wrong with this picture?
  • Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:03:27 -0600


June 5, 2008
Monsanto Plans to Boost Food Supply
By ANDREW POLLACK
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/business/worldbusiness/05crop.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Monsanto, the leader in agricultural biotechnology, pledged Wednesday to
develop seeds that would double the yields of corn, soybeans and cotton by
2030 and would require 30 percent less water, land and energy to grow.

The announcement, coming as world leaders are meeting in Rome to discuss
rising food prices and growing food shortages, appears to be aimed at least
in part at winning acceptance of genetically modified crops by showing that
they can play a major role in feeding the world.

Much of what is in the commitment are things the company was doing anyway,
though it now becomes a formal goal.

Monsanto said it had developed its new commitment after consulting farmers,
political leaders, academics and advocacy groups as to what needed to be done
to increase food production to cope with a rising population and the demand
for biofuels without converting more forests into farmland.

“In short, the world needs to produce more while conserving more,” the
company’s chief executive, Hugh Grant, said in a statement.

How much genetic engineering, which involves adding bacterial or other
foreign genes to the DNA of plants, could contribute to improving output is a
matter of debate.

A recent review of agricultural technology, sponsored by the United Nations
and the World Bank, saw a very limited role. But in Rome on Tuesday, United
States Secretary of Agriculture Edward T. Schafer said biotechnology would be
essential if the world was to increase food supply by 2030 to meet rising
demand.

Genetically modified soybeans, corn and cotton, genetically engineered to
provide herbicide tolerance, insect resistance or both, are widely grown in
the United States and several other countries. But they are largely shunned
in Europe and some other areas because of concerns about potential
environmental and health effects.

Perhaps seeking to avoid controversy, Monsanto’s announcement did not mention
the term “genetic engineering.” It referred instead to “other technologies”
beyond breeding.

Monsanto’s goal of doubling yields by 2030 over levels in 2000 might require
a sharp acceleration in the rate by which agricultural productivity has been
increasing. James E. Specht, a soybean genetics expert at the University of
Nebraska, said he doubted it could be done.

“The hype-to-reality ratio of that one is essentially infinity,” Mr. Specht
said. “Seeing an exponential change in the yield curve is unlikely.”

Mr. Specht said that on irrigated farms in Nebraska, soybean yields have been
increasing by about 0.6 bushels an acre every year. At that rate it would
take 83 years for yields to double from the 50 bushels an acre recorded in
2000.

But Monsanto executives say that a new technique called marker-assisted
selection could double the rate of gain made from breeding. That technique
does not involve altering crops by putting in foreign genes. Rather it uses
genetic tests to help choose which plants to use in conventional
cross-breeding, vastly speeding up the process and improving its efficiency.

But Monsanto executives say genetic engineering could provide additional
increases in output beyond that. The company’s insect-resistant crops already
help protect corn and cotton. And Monsanto scientists are working on
genetically engineered crops that would grow better with less water and
fertilizer.

Moreover, the company is not talking about the United States alone. Its said
its commitment was to double the weighted average yield of all countries with
access to the company’s seeds and modern agriculture production techniques,
particularly Argentina and Brazil, in addition to the United States.

Brazil, for instance, produces only 58 bushels of corn an acre compared to
157 bushels in the United States. So big gains might be made by bringing
Brazil to American levels, without having to vastly accelerate yield
improvements in Nebraska.

Some critics of biotechnology say that genetic engineering so far has not
been shown to improve yields, though it may provide more convenience for
farmers. They also have said that the biotech crops developed so far have
mainly been aimed at feeding livestock in wealthy countries, not improving
the staple crops grown by small farmers in poor countries.

As part of its announcement Wednesday, Monsanto said it would work to improve
the lives of farmers, including poor ones, including sharing its technology.
It recently announced a project with some other organizations to develop
drought-tolerant corn for Africa, with Monsanto forgoing the collection of
royalties for use of its technology.

Also yesterday, Monsanto said it would donate $10 million over five years to
public-sector programs aimed at improving yields of wheat and rice, which are
not a primary focus of the company’s efforts. Much of the breeding of those
two food staples are performed by governments and universities.

Monsanto’s stock was trading at $134.76 mid-morning Wednesday, up about 1
percent. The stock has more than doubled in the last year, in part because of
soaring crop prices. Besides being a leader in genetic engineering, Monsanto
is one of the largest suppliers of seeds in the world. It also sells the
widely used herbicide Roundup, use of which has grown with the adoption of
genetically engineered crops resistant to Roundup.






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