Future Global Food Production

Wired reports that a modification of a single gene by University of California scientists can make crop plants tolerant of toxic aluminum-laden soil. Although I was unaware of this specific problem before, the possibilities excite me, particularly in what this could mean to the Third World nations.

There will be those who object to this, arguing that we don't know the potential dangers genetically-modified food crops might bring, but I tend to believe those fears are unfounded. We aren't talking about making a viral cure for cancer (as in "I Am Legend") or creating human/animal cross-breeds. While it makes sense to take precautions with genetically-modified food, the benefits far outweigh the risks, in my opinion.

The one part of this article that I question is the suggestion that the world is "running out of room to grow food." This is true up to a point, but not entirely.

I was raised on a farm in the midwestern United States, and my late father often complained about land that was "taken out of production" for agriculture through conservation programs. There was actually plenty of land around for wildlife, but the state conservation department together with some federal programs insisted on taking arable land from agricultural production through paying farmers not to use the land.

Now, what a farmer does or doesn't do with his land is his business. If he wants to have in in a government conservation program, that's up to him. Just don't come back and say there isn't farmland available, or try to argue that the land isn't worth farming. My father purchased a piece of land 1o years before his passing that was virtually devoid of topsoil, and in the intervening years recuperated that land for livestock and some crops.

In my native Missouri there is also a lot of farmland that is being chopped up and sold for acreages or creeping suburban sprawl. That land will likely not see farm use ever again, barring a global disaster of some kind. On the other hand, some farm properties are being sold to hunters from the cities, sits unused year round and receives hunters (too often drunken and irresponsible, unlike their local rural counterparts) a handful of times a year. That land could be returned to production, should the need arise.

Another thing my late father often said was that "the world is a big place." Yes, the global population is booming, growing exponentially, but the planet is actually far larger than most folks seem to understand. Between the actual available of land that can be returned to production and the scientific advances like the one described in the recent Wired article, our world's food-production future really doesn't look so bleak.

See Also:
Plant Tweak Could Let Toxic Soil Feed Millions (Wired)
Genetically Modified Food (Wikipedia)