Cutting Your Nose Off

The old warning “be careful you don’t cut your nose off to spite your face” is one that is very familiar to most of us, and has been issued in my general direction more than once or twice. Perhaps someone should heed that warning to those critics that have decided to fight and hinder the research and development of biotechnologies that could help provide food to starving third world countries.  While they are busy debating agriculture and food production issues people around the world continue to watch their loved ones slowly succumb to the ravages of starvation. It’s easy to argue over how one thinks crops should be grown and cultivated when one has a full pantry. The world’s population is well over six billion and is predicted to double in the next fifty to sixty years. It is not farfetched then to consider food shortages extending beyond third world countries and encroaching on our shores. Ensuring adequate food supplies for generations to come is going to be challenging at best and nearly impossible if these critics of biotechnology and even certain conventional farming techniques have their way.