Can biotechnology fix world hunger or are we just falling through the cracks? (Photo via Ethicurean)
OVERSIZED BULLETS
The most striking point of Doug’s interview at the Ethicurean was that genetic engineering or biotech hasn’t increased the amount of food grown at all. Herbicides and even Bt poisons do far less than any other method (herbicides do nothing according to Doug).
“You can kill as many bugs as you want. Bugs outnumber humans and their chemicals by at least 1.5 million to 1. You kill some and a thousand more step up to the plate. The bugs they figure it all out and they’ve got numbers to throw.”
You’re better off trying to grow plants (and people) that are tough as iron, healthy and fed well. It’s better than trying to shoot bullets at every insect you can see. That’s what biotechnology, drugs and chemical pesticides or herbicides are – oversized bullets. (my words not Doug’s)
FACTORY FARMING IS LIKE HEALTHCARE
Meaning drugs are like pesticides, vice versa
As I was reading the New Organic Grower yesterday it struck me (I’ve thought of this before in terms of the human body) that we focus too much on attacking pests instead of increasing the strength or endurance of our plants. Or another way of putting it – attacking the symptom (Coleman would say “shooting the messenger”).
Coleman would also say that we need to provide the right growing conditions for each variety of plant (though there are basic growing conditions good for all plants). “A plant grows best when nothing has been taken away,” Elliot would say. Pests and disease only appear when the plant (or the person) hasn’t been given what they need to really succeed, grow and flourish (outside – environment, inside – body health).
If we were to look at healthcare today it would mirror the same thing as big factory farming. We focus on attacking something outside of us instead of prevention or strengthening our immune system and our muscles. I suppose its become a cultural mind set – the need to dominate everything “outside” of ourselves while forgetting about the “inside” of ourselves.
NOW WHAT?
So it seems chemical poisons like pesticides and herbicides are overkill, spilling into food, lakes, rivers and streams while doing very little to grow food (last I recall over half of this stuff doesn’t make it to the plant). In fact, good old fashioned crop breeding and other non-fancy ways work better.
As Elliot Coleman would say, “We need to take the plant-positive, not the pest-negative approach.” Essentially we need to figure out what we’re starving the plant (or person) out of and give them what they need to live and grow well. Stop shooting the messenger and stop listening to big businesses like Monsanto who tell us jack hammers are better for killing ants (and everything else we don’t want dead).
THE ORIGINAL INTERVIEW WITH DOUG…
Can biotechnology ‘feed the world’? Not likely, says genetic engineering expert Doug Gurian-Sherman :: The Ethicurean: Chew the right thing.: “With food shortages provoking riots in recent years, and the world’s population increasing exponentially, Congress will soon be debating the next big U.S. aid package for developing countries. America currently spends about $2.5 billion on food aid, most of it to buy surplus U.S.-grown commodity grains to donate — a policy that may fill bellies but is wildly inefficient and by undercutting local farmers, has hampered aid-receiving communities in feeding themselves.”
RESOURCES
Frequently Asked Questions on Why Genetically Engineered Crops Fail
Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops
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