A little known guy died earlier in September at 95. I didn't even hear about until yesterday. This man is credited with saving more lives than any other human in history and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. His name was Norman Borlaug, a plant geneticist that headed the Green Revolution that drastically increased the world food supply.
Genetically modified crops increase the yield per acre, meaning less deforestation is necessary to increase the amount of food. Most of us on this forum eat and wear the products of genetically modified plants everyday, and more and more of the world's farmers are starting to grow them over the traditional seeds. Although some richer individuals bend over backwards to cling on to "organic" foods, the work pioneered by Norman continues to this day as plant yields are increased ever further with better endurance, the addition of more nutrients and vitamins in the staple crops, and the integrated production of naturally produced pesticides (not the kind that gets sprayed). Who knows, perhaps someday some research labs will successfully engineer some plants to fix their own nitrogen (effectively fertilizing themselves without the need of the expensive Haber–Bosch process).
It's estimated that if all the farmland of the world grew current GM crops, 10 billion people could be fed year-round. The human population will likely expand beyond this soon, but Norman got us started.
So, here's to Norman Borlaug, the guy who has fed so many.
________ ________
\________\------______ ∴ _____------/________/
\_______\---\\\\ Sir Hugh ////---/_______/
\_____\--\\¦| Seraph |¦//--/_____/
\\//\\//
°º☤☤º°
Genetically modified crops increase the yield per acre, meaning less deforestation is necessary to increase the amount of food. Most of us on this forum eat and wear the products of genetically modified plants everyday, and more and more of the world's farmers are starting to grow them over the traditional seeds. Although some richer individuals bend over backwards to cling on to "organic" foods, the work pioneered by Norman continues to this day as plant yields are increased ever further with better endurance, the addition of more nutrients and vitamins in the staple crops, and the integrated production of naturally produced pesticides (not the kind that gets sprayed). Who knows, perhaps someday some research labs will successfully engineer some plants to fix their own nitrogen (effectively fertilizing themselves without the need of the expensive Haber–Bosch process).
It's estimated that if all the farmland of the world grew current GM crops, 10 billion people could be fed year-round. The human population will likely expand beyond this soon, but Norman got us started.
So, here's to Norman Borlaug, the guy who has fed so many.
\________\------______ ∴ _____------/________/
\_______\---\\\\ Sir Hugh ////---/_______/
\_____\--\\¦| Seraph |¦//--/_____/
\\//\\//
°º☤☤º°