We will all benefit now and in
the future: from better and cheaper food and other plant products, an environment
less damaged by agriculture, more wild and recreational land saved from the
plough, and less poverty and food shortages in developing countries.
The first people obviously to benefit have been farmers because the new crops
were developed in the main by seed-producing companies whose customers are
farmers, not consumers. The benefits for farmers include some or all of lower
labour costs (less work in spraying and pest control), reduced use of chemicals,
savings on tractor and other machine usage (including fuel, maintenance and
depreciation), less damage to soil from compaction and ploughing, all combined
in some cases with increased yields and better quality products.
All the GM seeds cost more to buy, the financial benefits of using far outweigh
that additional cost which is why the numbers of farmers using them has steadily
been rising by 10-15%, year after year. The farmers know from experience how
beneficial the new crops are. And, of course, they are able to sell the products
or they would not continue to use GM.
Another issue is the growing world population, accompanied as it is by a steady
reduction in arable land as increasing numbers of people build houses, factories
and roads on what used to be farmland. Moreover, many people in the world
are now undernourished and as people grow wealthier, there is a growing demand
for more meat which means even more land. Coupled with all that is a developing
shortage of fresh water and perhaps climate change as well.
There are no easy solutions to these very complex problems but it is clear
that not only will we humans have to stop fighting wars, and improve our organisation
and infrastructure, but we are going to need every bit of helpful technology
we can find in order to overcome those massive problems.
Even in the rich countries, the price of food is an issue, especially for
poorer people. If prices are high, people without much money tend to economise
of fruits and vegetables so the cheaper and more accessible7.89.35 - 2007-10-03 14:38:42 GET /Images/case%20for%20crops.png - 200 1805 http://www.cropgen.org/ Mozilla/5.0+(Macintosh;+U;+PPC+Mac+OS+X+Mach-O;+en-US;+rv:1.7.8)+Gecko/20050511+Firefox/1.0.4
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