Martin Brown, chief executive of intelligent pest management company Exosect, has used the recent CropWorld Conference in London to speak about the role that biotechnology will play in feeding future generations.
During the event, Brown stated the importance of biotechnology to the agricultural industry given the rising population – which hit 7bn this week and is set to reach 9.1bn by 2050 – but warned that it would not be the only answer to addressing the complex challenge of long-term food security.
He cited the green revolutions led by Norman Borlaug in Mexico and Asia, where lives were saved from starvation through the discovery of higher-yielding plant breeds and the introduction of pesticides, fertilisers, irrigation and farmer education programmes.
'This is an example of how the whole range of modern technologies of the time helped to reform agriculture in the developing nations that also had the market structure to support it,' Brown noted.
'Our industry is developing a wide range of wonderful innovations in agriculture but we must understand that there are no silver bullets,' he added. 'Therefore we must ensure that we employ a sustainable synthesis of all the modern tools in a bio-conventional approach to feed future generations. This will include meeting the needs of small farmers in the developing nations where it will be most needed.'
No comments yet