Page 264 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

transgenes and that 37% of maize grains distributed by the permission to field-test its GM corn on 1 hectare (2.5 acres)
government to farmers were transgenic. These results were of land in northeast Mexico, with no measures to prevent the
never published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, but experts drift of pollen.
reasoned that corn shipments from the United States contain In 2012, Mexico’s government stood ready to approve
a mix of GM and non-GM grain, small farmers plant some of applications from Monsanto, Dupont, and Dow Chemical to
this seed, and transgenes entering Mexico can spread by wind plant GM corn on 2.5 million ha (6.1 million acres) of Mexican
pollination and by interbreeding with native landraces of maize. farmland—an area the size of Vermont or New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, teams of Mexican and American scientists Nonprofit groups skeptical of GMOs publicized this, thousands
were conducting their own surveys of Oaxacan maize. In 2005, of Mexican farmers protested, and the government put off the
one team reported finding no transgenes at all, despite ana- decision until 2013. “If Mexico allows this crime of historic sig-
lyzing 154,000 maize seeds. Then in 2009 and 2010, other nificance to happen,” said Veronica Villa of the nonprofit ETC
teams reported evidence of transgenes in native maize at low Group, “GMOs will soon be in the food of the entire Mexican
frequency from scattered locations. Scientists are still debating population, and genetic contamination of Mexican peasant
the issue, but consensus has grown that transgenes have by varieties will be inevitable.”
now spread widely into native landraces. The potential impact of GM corn on Mexico’s native land-
In recent years Mexico has begun importing more and races is difficult to assess. A still harder question to answer
more of its corn. In 2008 global food prices spiked, and Mexican is how the genetic engineering of crops in general may affect
citizens protested in the streets over the rising cost of tortillas. people and the environment (in both positive and negative
At this point the Mexican government decided that GM corn ways) and whether it constitutes progress toward a goal of
might help boost yields, lower prices, and make the country sustainable agriculture. In this chapter, we explore the quest
self-sufficient again. The government lifted the ban on testing for sustainable agriculture as we take a wide-ranging view of
GM corn and granted permits for 67 small-scale, controlled the ways we increase our agricultural output and how we might
experimental trials in northern Mexico. Then in 2011, Mexico manage the environmental and social consequences of these
granted the multinational agrobiotech corporation Monsanto efforts.

The Race to Feed the World We face undernutrition, overnutrition,
and malnutrition
As the human population continues to grow, we can expect
our numbers to swell to 9 billion by the middle of this century. Despite our rising food production, 870 million people world-
For every four people living today, there will be five in 2050. wide do not have enough to eat. These people suffer from
Feeding 2 billion more mouths while protecting the integrity undernutrition, receiving fewer calories than the minimum
of soil, water, and ecosystems will require sustainable agricul- dietary energy requirement. As a result, every 5 seconds,
ture. Progressing toward a sustainable model for agriculture somewhere in the world, a child starves to death. In most
may involve a diversity of approaches, ranging from organic cases, the reasons for undernutrition are economic. One-fifth
farming to genetically modified crops like those that have of the world’s people live on less than $1 per day, and over
elicited so much controversy in Mexico. half live on less than $2 per day, the World Bank estimates.

5.0
We are producing more food per person 4.5 World population
Vegetables
Over the past half-century, our ability to produce food has 4.0 Fruits CHAPTER 10 • A g R i C ulT u RE , Bi o TECH nology, A nd THE Fu T u RE o F Food
grown even faster than global population (Figure 10.1). We have
increased food production by devoting more fossil fuel energy 3.5 Grains
to agriculture; intensifying our use of irrigation, fertilizers, and 3.0 Roots and tubers
pesticides; planting and harvesting more frequently; cultivating Growth relative to 1961 levels
more land; and developing (through crossbreeding and genetic 2.5
engineering) more productive crop and livestock varieties. 2.0
Improving people’s quality of life by producing more food
per person is a monumental achievement of which humanity 1.5
can be proud. However, making our food supply sustainable
depends on maintaining healthy soil, water, and biodiversity. 1.0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Careless agricultural practices can damage environmental sys- Year
tems and diminish the capacity of soils to continue supporting Figure 10.1 Global production of most foods has risen more
crops and livestock (Chapter 9). Today many of the world’s quickly than world population. This means that we have pro-
soils are in decline, and most of the planet’s arable land has duced more food per person each year. Trend lines show cumula-
already been claimed. Even though agricultural production tive increases relative to 1961 levels (for example, a value of 2.0
has outpaced population growth so far, there is no guarantee means twice the 1961 amount). Food is measured by weight. Data
that it will continue to do so. from U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 263

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