The first of my “ten reasons to be cheerful” was published on the Adam Smith Institute site. Basically my case is that just as the Green Revolution brought unprecedented increases in food production, so a second Green Revolution based on genetic modification of food crops, will bring even more. It means that far from running short of enough food to feed the world’s future population, we are far more likely to see great increases in food production. I point out that:
“Plants have already been developed to resist herbicides so that weeds can be killed without affecting food crops. Even more exciting is the research under way to develop crop strains that will resist pests themselves without needing chemical assistance.
Researchers are developing crops that will thrive on marginal land, that can resist drought and temperature extremes, and that are saline tolerant. This will open up to agriculture huge areas of land not presently suitable for crops. Varieties are being produced that can fix atmospheric nitrogen and fertilize themselves in the way that legumes do.”
It also means we won’t need to cut down any more rainforest.
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Madsen Pirie 