POLITICAL INSTABILITY CAUSED BY FOOD SHORTAGES WILL BE FAR MORE DANGEROUS THAN RISING SEA LEVELS OR HURRICANES - BUT NEW VARIETIES OF WHEAT COULD SAVE US.
Two stories from last week deserve greater prominence, because they will dominate the next decade. Droughts and floods have taken a toll on the wheat harvests this year, particularly in Russia and Canada. What is worrying, the weather patterns suggest these reduced crop yields may now become the norm, as world population continues to skyrocket. Food riots in the developing world may soon also become the norm, whilst high food prices in the developed world may lead to a faltering economy and extremist politics. We'll be at each other's throats even as the water rises around our necks.
At the same time however, scientists have just mapped out the wheat genome. Just like new varieties of wheat helped bring about the Green Revolution of the 1970's, we may soon have new drought resistant varieties of wheat that may buy us some time.
Ultimately however, we may end up 30 years later in the same situation. Now what are we going to do about that ? There is a famous story about NASA spending millions on researching ink pens that would work in space - before realising pencils could do the job just fine. Are we looking too closely at the crops, and not closely enough at what they grow in ? Good soil can resist drought just as well as billion dollar heavily researched wheat. If soils are protected from erosion and rebuilt naturally with composting, the humus that is built up can nurture a crop through all but the harshest droughts. So next time you're about to throw a banana skin in the trash, spare a thought for composting.
No comments:
Post a Comment