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Re: Corporations protecting the environment
The efforts by Monsanto and other companies to develop cultivars of
potato and other crops with the bt gene may be regarded as possibly
helping the environment. This may not be regarded as a "politically
correct" statement on this forum, but it is a view held by many in
agriculture. The introduction of such cultivars will allow farmers
to grow potato without using temik, monitor (since temik was
withdrawn), or other insecticides to control colorado potato beetle.
Currently fields are sprayed about every 2 weeks by air with monitor
to control this insect, which can otherwise defoliate a field in a
week or two during a period of rapid population growth.
On the negative side, the beetles will probably develop resistence
to bt in 10-20 years if the bt-cultivars are used very extensively
(this will reduce the effectiveness of using bt as an "organic"
insecticide also) unless Monsanto can pull the bt cultivars and
replace them with some alternative cultivar using some other
resistence mechanism when resistence first appears -- that might
allow the bt-resistence genes to largely disappear from the beetle
population after a few years.
Monsanto is also funding research to develop virus resistent Russett-
burbank potato lines. Combined with the bt-resistence, this would
allow potatoes to be grown almost entirely without application of
insecticides.
Another controversial area is herbicide resistent crop varieties.
If a crop is not effected by certain broad spectrum herbicides,
then those herbicides can be applied shortly after emergence to
eliminate competitive species (weeds at that moment) just before the
crop cuts off most sunlight from reaching the soil surface.
Thereafter the crop will suppress competition by intercepting
light before it reaches emerging weeds. The disadvantage of this
is that those herbicides can not be used to control that crop
species when it grows as a volunteer during subsequent stages of
the crop rotation, so people fear such crops will have potential
to become serious weed competitors (or that crops will hybridize
with related weed species (e.g. sorghum/johnson grass) which will
become harder to control with herbicides. Anyway there is a good
argument that herbicide-resistent crops will allow herbicide
treatments that will have less impact on the environment, there
are also arguments that such crops will have deleterious or
disastrous consequences.
Tom Hodges
>In <v01540b00ae7f403357d6@[132.234.31.120]>, R.Sanders@ens.gu.edu.au (Richard Sanders) writes:
>>I am interested in finding positive examples of agribusiness corporations
>>taking responsible action to protect the environment and the natural
>>resource base of agriculture.
>>
--
Tom Hodges thodges@freenet.calgary.ab.ca
Professional Agronomist, member Baha'i Faith, Go player
References: