Modern agriculture cultivates climate change – we must nurture biodiversity
by Olivier De Schutter and Emile Frison from on (#286NB)
Crop-breeding innovations are merely a short-term solution for falling yields. Only agricultural diversity can ensure food security and resilience
As a new year dawns, it is hard not to be dazzled by the current pace of technological change in food and agriculture. Only last month, news emerged of a crop spray with the potential to increase the starch content in wheat grains, allowing for yield gains of up to 20%. This development comes hot on the heels of major breakthroughs in gene-editing technologies - using a powerful tool known as Crispr - over the course of 2016.
A future of continually increasing food supplies and ever more sophisticated manipulation of agro-ecosystems seems to be upon us.