TWC Session 7

Brief overview:

Today’s lesson touched on the topics of Agri-Veterinary & Food BioBiz and Environmental & Industrial BioBiz. We focused on the impact of modern agriculture (deforestation, growing demands for food, pollution caused by fertilisers etc) and the innovation in sustainable farming. We were introduced to the various colours of biotechnology:

Red – Applied to humans

Green – Applied to plants and animals

Blue – Applied to marine life

White – Applied to industrial

Interesting observations:

1) For Agribiology, we discussed about growing GM food and innovations in agro-biotech to ensure food security for all. In addition, we discussed how humans have been “toying with nature” by selective breeding. And example is the selective breeding of dogs.

Now here is where the first human genetic engineering comes into play. Once dogs were domesticated enough so that humans could handle them and control their breeding, we could start to tinker with and modify the species.

http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/how-dogs-were-created/12679?fb_action_ids=10151384032944058&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

We have been selectively breeding animals and plants for ages to suit our needs, I don’t see why GM food is bad, unless certain GM foods really pose a health risk after eating. By selectively incorporating certain genes into our food supply, it can increase yields by making it resistant to pest and lessen environmental damage agriculture brings.

2)  The global population is increasing and moving to a more urbanisaed environment. We are at the threshold of change, as more countries are progressing towards a more urbanised setting. It will definitely bring about increased energy consumption which will impact on the world’s resources and environment.  This is due to the shifting taste and preference of people demanding more goods and resources to cater to their urban lifestyles. We have to come up of ways to increase food productivity to feed the increased population. Ironically, it is said that the current food production is enough to feed the entire world’s population, but why do people still go hungry? There is an obvious gap in resource distribution. While we need to think of ways to increase food productivity, we have to come up with strategies to ensure food is distributed fairly to poorer countries, and reduce wastage in more affluent countries.

Key takeaways:

Jinghui raised the differences between traditional and organic agriculture, and showed us the future of agriculture. Is organic really better? Organic agriculture produces fewer crops on average by 25% using more lands. She also mentioned about the uneven distribution of food.

I think we will need to deploy different kinds of techniques for different regions, borrowing the strengths of each agriculture region and develop innovations through farming knowledge to make the best out of each region to create sustainable agriculture without damaging the land. Also, affluent society should be conscious in our food consumption and prevent food wastage.

Eva also discussed some of the ways to go about tackling food crisis. She asked if we need industrial farming to feed the world. It is ultimately the corporations benefiting the most – oligopoly. Unsustainable industrial farming pollutes environment and cause sick livestock. However being industrial does not mean its unsustainable. The more pertinent question here is whether sustainable farming can be adopted to feed the world.

Ratings: 6.5/10