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AdvertisementFollow your noseWhat a world we live in. With most of the nation's 2009 corn and soybean crops still in the field, hanging on for dear life, the world continues to argue about how to feed the growing population. In fact, I don't think anybody is going to argue with me on the point that, no matter what commodity you are trying to produce, 2009 is going to be one of those years that you just want to get in your rear-view mirror. But, in light of the United Nations recent reminder that the world needs a $90 billion a year investment in agriculture in order to feed our people, you must wonder about the motivation of some of these "experts." Oct. 16 was considered World Food Day and even the Pope spoke out on the importance of increasing food production. The problem with all of this is that the United Nations, from one side of their mustache, talks about investments in agriculture and then, from the other side, refuses to endorse the United States' "science and technology" approach to getting it done. They blame the cows for climate change, which is nothing more than an effort to stymie the very venues we have paved to feed and clothe more of the world's population. They reject biotechnology as a means of feeding developing nations. Despite what the late Norman Borlaug had to say about it, feeding developing nations without biotechnology is impossible. Interestingly enough, the Europeans may be beginning to see the light. Britain's Royal Society has released a report looking at how science and technology can be used to fight a food shortage it says is expected to hit the globe by 2050. The Royal Society says farmers will have to grow improved crop varieties to meet growing food demands. It calls for genetic improvement of crops through conventional plant breeding and through direct genetic modification of crops. Meanwhile, anti-GMO activists are destroying field trials of genetically modified crops in Britain where officials are now forced to carry out the research in secret or secure locations. Seriously look at the world situation; even the UN has acknowledged that we have the largest hunger problem ever. "For the first time in history, more than one billion people are undernourished worldwide," Jacques Diouf head of UN food agency. "This is 105 million more than last year and it means that one in every six persons in the world suffers from hunger every day." I fully recognize that it is not as simple as Americans producing more, and starving people in Kenya having easy access to our abundance. But, it is extremely troubling that the so-called global leaders give non-stop rhetoric to creating new ways to increase food production, when at every turn they reject the very methods we have been using to accomplish the task. It reminds me of a recent trip my family took to Omaha to conduct beef demonstrations in the grocery store. My middle daughter, age seven, had a pretty bad scrape on her nose from a run-in with a pole at school. The evening after our demos, we spent about 2 hours in the water park at the hotel. At breakfast the next morning, I noticed that the sore was all but healed. The only logical answer would be the chlorine in the water. A quick look on the website of the Center for Disease Control tells us that chlorine was used during World War I as a choking (pulmonary) agent. Chlorine is one of the most commonly manufactured chemicals in the United States. Its most important use is as a bleach in the manufacture of paper and cloth, but it is also used to make pesticides (insect killers), rubber, and solvents. Millions of parents, without giving it a second thought, let their kids go into the pool and be exposed to this chemical that at one time was used to kill people and is still used to kill bugs. While you could imagine how I could take a selective portrayal of this information and create a fear-mongering awareness to the dangers of kids in chlorinated pools, the truth of the matter is that it also has healing properties. I feel this analogy represents the science and technology we must use in the quest to feed 9 billion people by 2050. We must shout from the rooftops that the investment in feeding an ever-growing population has already been made by the agricultural system in the United States of America. Yes, indeed, I am suggesting that the world's acceptance of a little biotechnology and a little chemical application could provide the same healing effect on the looming hunger problem as chlorine did to my daughter's nose. Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com. Advertisement
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