A senior adviser with the US Department of Agriculture told Grains Week 2006 today that technology will be the key driver to feeding and clothing nations around the world in the future.

Michael Schechtman, Co-ordinator of the Agriculture Research Service with the USDA, told the conference that new bio technology driven crops in a range of categories would emerge over the next 5 to 10 years.

“Modern biotechnology-derived crop varieties have been readily and continually adopted by many American farmers over the last decade and they now account for over half of all corn and more than two-thirds of all cotton and soybeans grown”, Mr Schechtman said.

“USDA supports the safe and appropriate use of science and technology, including biotechnology, to help meet agricultural challenges and consumer needs of the 21st century”.

“While it is impossible to predict which products will reach the marketplace in the future, product development has progressed on a number of fronts in the U.S. which could lead to new products in a range of categories, including improvements on and combinations of existing traits, increased disease resistances in existing crops and nutritional or health improvements for food or feed”, Mr Schechtman said.

“We could also see bioenergy crops, plant-made pharmaceuticals and more drought-resistant varieties”, he said.

“The introduction of new crops has created a number a challenges and opportunities in an evolving global marketplace. Even with all the uncertainties implicit in predicting the future, it is clear that technology will be a key driver helping nations all over the world meet their food, feed, and fibre needs”.