The ability of the world to feed people might seem like a rather small issue when you walk into a grocery store in Canada and always find the shelves well-stocked.
Rare is the day one goes to purchase a food item and it is not available here.
And while it often seems that food is expensive, take the non-food items out of the grocery bags; dish soap, cat food, magazine, razor blades and a host of other items put on a grocery list which are not food, the cost is still quite reasonable.
But on an international scale food production, and its future, are a much more significant concern.
There are so many factors influencing food production, starting with ever more mouths to feed.
World population is increasing, and there is nothing which seems viable as a control of that growth.
Desertification, urban sprawl and other influences are reducing the land actually available which is capable of growing food, at least under current practices.
And then there is the concerns surrounding climate change, and what those changes might mean to food production on a world scale.
With such concerns it’s not surprising the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has held symposiums on the issue.
“The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has previously held a couple of symposiums to discuss how we will feed the growing world population.” explained Esterhazy-area farmer Dale Leftwich, who is also a Director with SaskCanola.
But the most recent event held in Italy broadened the scope of the discussion, said Leftwich.
“These meetings have been intended to increase production on smallholder farms, but have not included how modern biotechnology could play a part,” he said. “Some groups did not want to include this type of innovation.”
So a conference held at the FAI Headquarters in Rome, Italy in mid-February dealing with ‘The Role of Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition’ was somewhat ground breaking.
It might be suggested the conference was well overdo as well.
To think the solutions to the multiple issues of food production will be solved without biotechnolgies seems folly.
When one looks at issues such as desertification, or salinization, the possibility of genetically modifying plants to sustain drier conditions, or the thrive in saline conditions, would seem the most expedient path.
Granted line breeding and more traditional methods of varietal crop development might ultimately achieve results too, that path would be expected to be much longer, and given the rate of change we are experiencing hungry mouths may not have the luxury of time.
Leftwich who sits on the board of The Canadian Canola Growers was chosen by the CCGA to present the farmer’s voice in Italy.
“We had five farmers take part in the panel. In addition to me, we had farmers from Argentina, the Philippines, from Kenya and Ghana,” he said.
So what was the message Leftwich shared?
“My particular presentation focused on three points,” he explained.
• That by allowing us to reduce tillage, biotechnology is good for the environment.
• That farmers need to be able to make decisions for themselves about how they farm and
• That we include everyone in the discussion about how food is produced.
The message was basic, but given he had only seven minutes, it was all that could reasonably be achieved.
That said it might have missed a key point, that without GM as a tool, the potential of feeding a growing population as we move forward could be compromised.
And certainly feeding everyone should be the first and foremost goal.
Calvin Daniels is Assistant Editor at Yorkton This Week.
