Chart(s) of the day: the "polio of agriculture" versus biotech ag
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:02AM 
Trio of Economist articles/editorials on ag trends.
Stem rust is resurgent in Africa and heading northeast toward Central Asia and the Eurasian breadbasket states. Once wheat's deadliest scourge, it hasn't been this strong since before the Green Revolution. Borlaug's original research and breakthroughs involved controlling stem rust. Now reborn, it's centered in Africa's great lake states and features a footprint stretching from South Africa to Iran. Like a polio resurgent, the current generations of plants have little immune-system capacity to resist it, having gone decades without "infection."
The current version is known as Ug99 for Uganda 1999.
Meanwhile, biotech is beginning to take off in a serious way, having survived the financial crisis nicely, the technologies long pursued are now mature enough for full commercialization. Moreover, "developing countries are emerging as major markets and sources of innovation for industrial biotech."
Reader Comments (2)
Stem rust didn't have an army of multi-national corporations battling its effects the last time it appeared, though. I suspect this will cause problems, but I also suspect the doomsayers are overstating the threat this time around.
Let us try this approach as well on the 'marginal' lands:
http://www.savoryinstitute.com/brown-revolution/
Contrary, yes, but as such a part of the greater whole.