Session 7 (27/9) Reflections

Brief Overview

This week we return to the biobusiness revolution to look at the areas of agricultural, environmental and industrial biotechnology.  We saw how the Green Revolution help drastically increase food supply and how biotechnology will continue to help feed the world in the future. The potential of industrial and environmental biotechnology in changing industrial processes in developing countries was also examined. Three videos were shown in class, the first was on the benefits brought by agricultural biotechnology, the second was an interview with Normal Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution and the last looked at industrial enzymes. The individual presentations in class covered very interesting topics such as Plumpy’Nut and in vitro cultured meat.

Interesting Ideas/Observations

The US has been a forerunner in the area of agricultural biotechnology and reading 3 looks at the opportunities and challenges in the decade ahead. Some issues which were raised include the greater push for labeling of genetically-modified (GM) food. The US does not require labeling to differentiate between GM and non-GM food, however many other countries now require mandatory labeling for food products derived from modern biotechnology while other food manufactures are sourcing for non-transgenic groups creating a segmentation in the marketplace. This would have a negative impact on the US farmers who grow transgenic groups.

Another interesting point which was brought up in the report was the prediction that some of the transgenic plant varieties intended for food use developed over the next few years will likely emerge from the developing world such as China and India. This could have a significant impact on the global genetic engineering debate because large populations of humans will be consuming a staple transgenic whole food. When this happens, it is likely that transgenic food crops would achieve greater acceptance worldwide.

Reading 4 and 7 covered the same topic, mainly how agricultural biotechnology in the form of transgenic plants could help meet our future needs for food. Both articles expressed confidence in the ability of current technologies to meet the current and long term demand for food worldwide. Reading 4 suggests that the one of the threats to reaping the benefits from biotechnology lies in the many well-financed anti-science groups. The author, Norman Borlaug, points out that affluent nations can afford to adopt elitist positions and pay more for food produced by so-called natural methods but the poor and hungry people of this world cannot, these new technology will be their salvation.

Reading 7, on the other hand, mentions the need to mobilize political will and build the necessary institutions in order to ensure that key decisions on investment and policies to eradicate hunger are taken and implemented effectively. Several other challenges against eradicating world hunger include climate change, biofuels (competition for land/resources between growing biofuel crops and food crops or food crops used for biofuels) and the lack of income and absence of effective social safety nets which may lead to a situation of hunger amidst adequate overall supplies.

Both readings 5 and 6 discussed environmental and industrial biotechnology in developing countries. Reading 5 suggests that industrial biotechnology is most likely to be adopted in intermediate developing countries as they would have the basic infrastructure and capabilities to adopt these cleaner production processes. This move would require foreign investment and/or partnerships to help further develop infrastructure and provide financial resources. The last part of the article also looks at some policy directions which can be adopted for biotechnology to be introduced into the industrial sectors of the developing world- international agencies can promote private sector involvement by helping mitigate risk through the establishment of mechanisms to identify promising technologies and provide parallel investments at the initial stage, strong local government involvement is needed, etc.

Similarly, reading 6 reviews the prospects and challenges associated with the introduction of industrial and environmental biotechnology into the global economy, in particular, the ability of developing countries to play a significant role in this emerging field. It suggests that sustaining a new bioeconomy requires the adoption of a global governance regime for biotechnology that helps to bring a large number of developing countries into the global trading system. Failure to do so will create a ‘genetic divide’ among countries and intensify public opposition to biotechnology. The article also stressed the importance of a more open market access system, flexible enforcement of intellectual property rights in industrialized countries and adherence to minimum protection standards in developing countries and wider technology partnerships through corporate alliances, to help develop a new bioeconomy.

Key Take Away Points

• The movement of people away from rural to urban areas has resulted in greater amalgamation of agricultural land allowing the mechanization of farms and greater yields
• The Green Revolution may have vastly increased our food production capabilities but many challenges still lie in the way of acceptance of GM food worldwide
• The use of transgenic crop may be the answer to ensure long term food security for all but political will must be mobilized and the necessary institutions need to be built
• Industrial biotechnology can lead the way to cleaner production processes through the use of biodegradable enzymes instead of polluting chemicals, however, greater investment in this area is required for there to be a shift

Issues for Further Discussion

Most of the discussion in class focused more on agricultural biotechnology, especially transgenic food, it would have been good if industrial and environmental biotechnology was discussed in greater depth.

Rating

9/10 because I felt that the individual class presentations this week were very well done. The topics covered were not only interesting and varied, the presenters also knew their material very well and this made the session informative and enjoyable.