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 It's one of those inexplicable
gaps in general knowledge. Despite all the high-profile
attention to food quality, food safety, or food security, the
basis of so much of what we eat is almost entirely neglected in
the debate.
We use plants to grow so many
things we take for granted. But of the seeds themselves, on
which most crops depend, the consumer knows practically nothing,
and maybe cares even less.
The seed industry has a great
story to tell – and it could be out there telling the world
about itself. About how it makes possible the highest quality of
food production, for humans and animals. About how it has
constantly refined seed technology, to improve yields, to reduce
water dependency, to speed growth, to resist disease… And about
how efforts continue to make the process ever more efficient and
environmentally friendly.
The story is still evolving too –
and at an increasing pace. The scope of the seed industry gets
broader all the time – permitting the production of an
ever-wider range of raw materials, fuel, and even medicines. And
the technologies underlying seed development are in an exciting
new phase. While technology has been a part of agriculture since
the first arable farmers chose which grasses to replant, the
pace of developments is now so rapid that it is a challenge even
for professionals to keep up across all its facets.
Central to this evolution is the
leap in biological sciences over the last fifty years – and the
application of the technologies it has given rise too. The
pioneers in tissue culture were orchid growers, and, in a
satisfyingly virtuous circle, the science of genetics - that was
so largely built on Gregor Mendel's work on peas – is now
revolutionising the possibilities for agriculture.
Similarly, the transposable
elements known familiarly as "jumping genes" were discovered
during studies on maize, and now find their application across
advanced technologies in plant science.
The objectives are the same as
for the plant-breeders that have discovered and deployed their
novel techniques across the millennia. It is the search to
respond to the needs of growers - and of the end-users they
serve.
The struggles common to all
growers– to bring their crop to maturity in the face of threats
from disease and adverse weather conditions, and to maximise
yields and quality - are at the heart of the work underway in
research labs around the world. In academia and in industry, the
deepening understanding of underlying mechanisms and specific
characteristics of crops is placing new tools in the hands of
farmers.
Papaya growers in Hawaii, who
faced ruin in the 1990s as their crops were decimated by the
papaya ringspot virus, have seen their industry revitalised by
just such an innovation. Genetically-engineered seeds of a
virus-resistant variant, developed by Cornell University, have
overcome disease, and improved yields and quality – to the
benefit not only of growers, but of the local economy, where
papaya was the island's fifth largest crop.
The same type of innovation, used
together with other plant breeding techniques at the molecular
level, is increasingly allowing growers to produce more and
better crops around the world, often in the face of
deteriorating conditions. Total acreage of plantings of
well-established biotech seeds such as maize and soya rises each
year, and there is an ever-widening array of new crops –
including cotton, eggplant and abaca – with inbuilt resistant to
disease or allowing higher efficiency of cultivation. And
strains of rice are now becoming available which also offer
enhanced vitamin content too.
The technology offers a way to
quickly improve crop qualities such as yield, pest resistance,
or herbicide tolerance, to a degree not possible with
traditional methods. Genetically modified crops are already
boosting prosperity and providing new choices for consumers. And
on the heels of today's crops offering pest and disease
resistance, other developments promise increased drought
resistance, salt tolerance and foods that are higher in vitamin
and mineral content.
These new crops are possible
because of the availability of new seeds. In these seeds lies
the hopes of mankind to feed a growing population on a planet
increasingly challenged by climate change. Without these seeds,
there is the risk of insufficient food and feed, and the risk of
neglecting a wealth of new agricultural possibilities in food,
fuel and medicine.
There's plenty of evidence that
consumers care about what they eat. Maybe it's time to help them
understand what – literally – underlies their food, so they care
about the seeds, too.
Simon Barber can be reached at
s.barber@europabio.org |
