AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

In the last decade, modern biotechnology has been increasingly applied to crop agriculture. The manipulation of whole organisms, populations of organisms and nucleic components holds much promise for improving crop productivity. Biotechnology offers various means of manipulating the fundamental processes of energy flow and biogeochemical (nutrient) cycles. It also provides a means of designing crops for specific environments which is a major departure from traditional agriculture wherein the environment is tailored, as far as possible, to suit the crop. Biotechnology and its sub discipline of genetic engineering are currently being applied to the improvement of crops themselves, the enhancement of nutrient availability, pest and disease control, the production of herbicide resistance in crop plants and tolerance to a variety of environmental stresses. The improvement of crop production, in principle, should also create environmental advantage. Less land, and particularly less marginal land, need be cultivated so reducing problems like soil erosion and desertification and promoting ecosystem conservation. This latter is essential to preserve biodiversity which provides many of the genetic resources on which biotechnology relies. In addition, the potential that biotechnology affords for reducing the use of artificial fertilisers and crop protection chemicals could result in the diminution of the fossil fuel subsidy that high-technology agricultural systems currently enjoy. There are, however, disadvantages of biotechnology. Environmentally, the creation of organisms that prove invasive and/or toxic is a major concern. Culturally, developing countries may be disadvantaged by the near monopoly of biotechnology by transnational companies based in the developed world. These issues reflect the close relationships between agriculture, the environment and society.