GM research is needed urgently to avoid food crisis, says Royal Society

GM techniques will help crops survive harsher climates, as populations grow and global warming worsens, says report
David Adam, Environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21 October 2009
Research to develop genetically modified crops must be stepped up as part of a £2bn "grand challenge" to avoid future food shortages, an influential panel of scientists said yesterday. In its report, the Royal Society said that GM techniques would be needed to boost yields and help crops survive harsher climates, as the global population rises and global warming worsens.
But the report said GM was not the only answer, and that measures to improve crop management, such as improved irrigation, were needed too.
Professor David Baulcombe, a plant scientist at the University of Cambridge who chaired the study, said: "We need to take action now to stave off food shortages. If we wait even five to 10 years, it may be too late. Biological science has progressed in leaps and bounds in the last decade and UK scientists have been at the head of the pack when it comes to topics related to food crops. In the UK we have the potential to come up with viable scientific solutions for feeding a growing population and we have a responsibility to realise this potential. There's a very clear need for policy action and publicly funded science to make sure this happens."
The Royal Society said the government should reverse a decay in agricultural research in Britain and spend at least £200m each year for the next 10 years on science that improves crops and sustainable crop management.
The report said the changing diets of people around the world, the likely impact of climate change and growing scarcity of water and land made it harder to increase food production to meet an expected rise in global population of 3 billion by the mid-century. Production methods would need to sustain the environment, preserve natural resources and support the livelihoods of farmers and rural populations around the world, it added.
The report came as John Beddington, chief scientific adviser to the government, said a "range of solutions" would be needed to feed a growing world population.
Baulcombe added: "There is no panacea for ensuring global food security. Science-based approaches introduced alongside social science and economic innovations are essential if we're to have a decent chance of feeding the world's population in 40 years' time. Technologies that work on a farm in the UK may have little impact for harvests in Africa. Research is going to need to take into account a diverse range of crops, localities, cultures and numerous other circumstances."
Anti-GM campaigners criticised the report, which they said was at odds with a separate report on future food production produced last year by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which said there was little role for GM, as currently practised, in feeding the poor on a large scale.
Kirtana Chandrasekaran of Friends of the Earth said: "Science has a key role to play in reducing hunger and poverty, but the report's focus on GM crops ignores mounting evidence that this technology is failing. GM crops are an extension of big-business factory farming that is already wiping out wildlife, destroying communities and making climate change worse. Any attempt to combat the global food crisis must also address its root causes, such as industrial livestock production and a narrow focus on increasing yields."
Tom MacMillan, executive director of the Food Ethics Council, said: "They get ahead of themselves by demanding £2bn more for science. That's exactly the kind of decision that should be up for wider debate. The money might be better spent tackling the social and economic problems that affect whether growing more food makes a jot of difference to food security."
Julian Little, chairman of the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, which represents GM crop companies, said: "Farmers must be given access to all the proven tools available to help them produce more food in a more sustainable way. This should include advanced crop breeding using biotechnology and GM methods, which are already being used by more than 13 million farmers around the world and helping to deliver higher and more reliable crop yields while mitigating major threats to crop production, such as damaging effects of pests, diseases and droughts."