Another, a second Green Revolution? • NeoMalthusian view: No, let’s don’t have one. – Keep food production as it is and population growth will stabilize after people die of starvation. – Buying into the idea of having another Green Revolution is tied to a faith in the possibility of unlimited growth. We just can’t expect that we can continue to feed all these people • Cornucopian, pro-technology view: Yes let’s have one. More people, more problem-solving capacity – We can engineer commodity chains • The Third Plate • Food 2.0 – We can engineer the plants • Genetically-modified organisms (GMOs)
Transcript
Another, a second Green Revolution?• NeoMalthusian view: No, let’s don’t have one.
– Keep food production as it is and population growth will stabilize after people die of starvation.
– Buying into the idea of having another Green Revolution is tied to a faith in the possibility of unlimited growth. We just can’t expect that we can continue to feed all these people
• Cornucopian, pro-technology view: Yes let’s have one. More people, more problem-solving capacity– We can engineer commodity chains
• The Third Plate• Food 2.0
– We can engineer the plants• Genetically-modified organisms (GMOs)
What is a commodity chain?
Tilapia (Nile perch) commodity chain
Tilapia (Nile perch) commodity chain
• Darwin’s Nightmare– A documentary about a particular tilapia food
chain, one that brings tilapia to Europe that is grown and processed Africa
– Intentional introduction of tilapia into lakes in East Africa in 1960’s
– These lakes were known for their incredible diversity of native fish, hence they were called “Darwin’s Dreampond”
– Tilapia decimated native fish populations – Local people lost long-practiced fishing
livelihoods unless they were lucky enough to be employed in the tilapia processing plants
– Local people could not afford tilapia which was for the most part shipped out to Europe
• Perspective on how to lessen impact of food and eating in the developed world while making it accessible for more people– First Plate: traditional commodity chains, large grocery
stores, meat-centered– Second Plate: free-range meat, locally sourced
vegetables, artisanal products. However, the commodity chains around this plate have become like the first – unsustainable or too expensive for many people
– Third plate: a more integrated system of vegetable, grain, and livestock production
The Third Plate• “We need to change our definition
of farm-to-table cooking to mean bringing the whole farm to the table — not just blood pudding and scrapple but the weeds, bones and other byproducts that are the equivalent of a fisherman’s bycatch...phytoplankton sauce and a main course of grilled overwintered parsnip steaks with poached marrow and a Bordelaise sauce made with bones.”
• Food 2.0 companies use computer algorithms to analyze thousands of plant species to find out what compounds can be stripped out and recombined to create what they say are more delicious and sustainable sources of protein.
• Would you eat the burger in this video – in vitro meat (meat grown in a test tube)
• First generation pesticides– Arsenic, hydrogen cyanide. Many of these were abandoned
because they were ineffective and/or too toxic to humans• Second generation pesticides
– Developed for WWII and used as part of the Green Revolution– DDT, organochlorines, organophosphates, and carbamates.– Use has been complemented by the inclusion of natural pest
control under practices of integrated pest management (IPM)in last few decades.
– IPM seeks to use natural methods of pest and weed control before resorting to chemicals
Third generation pesticides: genetically-modified organisms (GMO’s, transgenic organisms
• When genes from unrelated species are intentionally added to a plant genome, genetic modification has occurred. This is different from traditional plant breeding.
• Genes can be inserted that:– Produce pesticides within a plant– Promote resistance to herbicides within a plant– Produce other kinds of chemicals, like vitamins
• These chemicals are found throughout the tissues of a plant. Thus third generation pesticides are often referred to as systemic pesticides or herbicides.
• GMO examples in this lecture: Bt corn, Round-Up ready seeds, golden rice, terminator seeds, transgenic oranges
• Critics of golden rice refer to its as the Great Yellow Hype.
• In this view, golden rice is Trojan horse for the biotechnology industry: golden rice is just a way for a corporation to make profits and increase our dependency upon them
• However, supports say it could save millions of lives and prevent unnecessary blindness caused by a deficiency in vitamin A
• It should be noted vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin. If people eating this GMO rice don't also have fats in their diet the rice is not very effective
Terminator seeds
• Genetic use restriction technology (GURT)– Plants do not
produce seeds that can be planted to grow more individuals
US orange industry may collapse without GMO technology
Pros of GMOs• Convenience for farmers who can afford them they have very
targeted efficiency• Incorporation of medicines and vitamins into crops• GMO's have, for now, reduced pesticide use • No major impacts from genetic pollution, the genetic alteration of
non-target organisms, although:– Resistance to pesticides produced by GMO plants have been
found in some insects– Genes that provide resistance to herbicides have been found
in non-target plants – No ‘superpests’ of ‘superweeds’ (yet)
This article was written by Norman Borlaug, one of the primary architectsof the first Green Revolution. He advocates for the use of technology andGMO’s to feed the growing number of hungry people in the world.
GMO…OMG!!
However, there is a strong anti-GMO lobby even though there are already many commonly consumed foods that contain GMOs
