"How can we feed a growing global population in an era of climate instability without genetically modified crops?"
Here's some answers I came up with, off the top of my head:
- curtail waste in the food system (40% of food is wasted at the household level in Canada; postharvest losses in developing nations range from 15-50% of production)
- stop producing food for inefficient biofuels (ie, almost all biofuels)
- maintain and perpetuate biodiversity in order to respond contextually and locally to climate changes
- support and develop greenhouse gas-reducing farming methods
- put money back into public research in agriculture because even the USDA admits that Monsanto's 'drought-tolerant' corn has yields only equal to that of corn conventionally bred
What can you add to this list?
I think that biodiversity is more likely to be maintained with a decentralized (read, community-based) and de-commoditized food system. I actually feel hopeful and optimistic about that happening in the US, but less optimistic about it in the developing world.
ReplyDeleteThere's a giant push to grab developing nations' land and industrialize their agriculture, but I see more signs of popular resistance in the Global South than I do here. http://viacampesina.org. We need to resist our agribusinesses exploiting the developing world as well!
ReplyDeleteForest food gardens. Rebuilds soils, increases biodiversity, produces high yields, invests for the long term.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I like the concept. I need to find out how it works for a grassland ecosystem.
ReplyDeletePermaculture works anywhere.
ReplyDeletehttp://vimeo.com/7658282
I was more wondering about the tree aspect of a food forest. Educate me!
ReplyDeleteWhoops! I'd missed the video link.
ReplyDelete