Agricultural Lectures
Agricultural Lecture 2010 - We Need A Second Green
Revolution
The 2010 Agricultural Dinner was addressed by Sir David
Baulcombe FRS, Regius Professor of Botany at Cambridge University
and recently Chair of the Royal Society report entitled “Reaping
the Benefits: Towards a Sustainable Intensification of Global
Agriculture”, which was published in October 2009.
Sir David began by describing his twenty-five year involvement
working with GM plants and crops as a “truly amazing experience”.
It had given him, he said, the opportunity to participate in the
development of some highly important advances in both agriculture
and medicine.
However, there remained a lingering frustration, as he believed
the real potential of the science had yet to be realised. We need,
he said, a second green revolution if we are to stave off food
shortages in twenty or thirty years’ time. We need to increase food
production as rapidly as we have done since the war but with the
additional challenges of using methods with lower environmental
impact and climate change.
Sir David advocated progress on two fronts - the
development of new methods of crop management including crop
protection chemistry and the genetic improvement of crops by
breeding and genetic modification.
Recalling his early experiments in 1985, on cucumber mosaic
virus, the Professor explained how scientists had quickly
progressed to develop methods that could confer resistance against
any virus. Experimentation had revealed useful plant traits that
could be capitalized on - and now DNA sequencing technology was
revealing the make-up of the genome sequence of the major crops,
allowing the identification of genes, “The genetic engineer’s tool
box “he told us” is now massively more complete”. We can also think
of using it to introduce radical new traits and, from research, we
can see ways to increase the efficiency so that yield potential is
increased by 50%.”
Already, the technology had been successfully utilized to
increase insect resistance and herbicide tolerance. However, Sir
David advised caution. “I do worry about wide spread application.
Pests and disease have a nasty way of fighting back (through)
natural selection and an inevitable consequence is that they will
evolve to overcome.”
He also had concerns that the technology was owned by only a few
companies, describing it as ‘not a healthy situation’. Co-operation
should be a priority as our emphasis must now be on translating
research into applicable technologies.
Yet it was to scientists that Sir David issued his greatest
challenge. He urged them to become ‘more political’. “We cannot on
the one hand say that we are delivering a technology that has the
potential to be transformative, and on the other hand stand back
from thinking and speaking about application. We need to link our
view about the science and technology with thinking about how it is
used or what its effects might be on society and the
environment.”
Finally, Professor Baulcombe turned to the GM debate as a whole.
He, unlike some of his colleagues, felt that the controversy over
GM had been useful and that it will contribute to constructive
application of the technology. Professor Baulcombe also stated it
is appropriate to give consumers the choice as to whether they use
GM. He pointed out that at present they do not have that choice
because the products are not stocked in supermarkets or other
retail outlets. The evening concluded with questions.
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