THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 186, July 29, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
CHINA RELEASES BIOTECH RICE, BARS
BIOFUEL TO PROTECT FOOD SUPPLY
By Dennis T. Avery
GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD CROPS, OR PRODUCTION OF GRAIN-BASED ETHANOL AS A MOTOR FUEL? FOOD &
ENERGY DECISIONS IN CHINA -- CHINA'S REJECTION OF BIOFUELS IN FAVOR OF ENHANCING FOOD PRODUCTION THROUGH
BIOTECHNOLOGY -- SPURNING THE IDEAS OF ENVIRONMENTALISTS & OPTING FOR USE OF COMMON SENSE
FULL STORY:
China says short world grain supplies have persuaded it to release biotech rice nationwide, ensuring the broadest-ever use
of genetic engineering in a food crop. Chinese plant breeders say biotech crops are certain to produce higher yields,
forestalling the need to finance costly rice imports for China’s billion-plus consumers.
To further protect its grain supplies, China has also been discouraging grain-based ethanol for the last two years. Chinese
demand for grain ethanol — mainly from corn — had threatened to inflate prices for China’s rice and livestock products as
world oil prices hit record levels.
These strategies may quickly become the model for developing countries, as the world strives to double food and feed
production over the next three decades — with or without biofuels.
Western biofuel mandates have, unfortunately, more than doubled world grain prices since 2005. Corn costs have soared
from less than $2 per bushel to more than $7, before settling recently at about $5.50 per bushel. Pork, poultry, beef, and milk
producers are still warning of further food price inflation ahead, due to biofuels mandates.
The Chinese have already developed genetically engineered rice strains with bred-in pest and disease resistance. They’re
also experimenting with new nitrogen-efficient rice that needs only half as much fertilizer to get top yields. The new rice thus
costs much less to grow, and emits far less greenhouse gas per ton of rice produced. They also say biotech rice “escapes”
will not be a problem, since they’ve pre-programmed the rice to be hyper-sensitive to a particular herbicide.
China already permits the growing of genetically engineered peppers, tomatoes and papaya, and much of its huge cotton
crop is genetically modified to resist pests. Biotech has overcome the deadly ringspot virus, which severely hampers papaya
production in much of the world, and provided virus resistance for tomatoes and peppers. Another genetic modification
permits Chinese tomatoes to survive the longer shipping delays caused by the poor Chinese roads and lack of refrigeration.
The nitrogen-efficient biotech rice being tested by the Chinese emerged at Canada’s University of Alberta, as breeders were
seeking drought-tolerant crops. Someone forgot to fertilize the seeds in the greenhouse, but one set of plants grew
vigorously anyhow. They had discovered a new and more efficient pathway for crop nitrogen uptake that allows top yields
with half the nitrogen fertilizer.
Arcadia Biosciences is marketing the nitrogen-efficient crops, working with Chinese rice growers and Australian wheat
growers and is working to develop the new nitrogen efficiency in corn. Arcadia has already signed a licensing agreement with
the Maharashtra Seed Company in India, the world’s second-most-populous country.
Greenpeace claims that rice smuggled from biotech experimental fields has already been sold on consumer markets without
government approval, and perhaps even exported. However, with world rice prices recently hitting record highs, no one has
seemed to care.
The question today is how to produce adequate food, with cropland per person declining. In addition, fertilizer prices have
been sharply inflated by the conversion of power plants to burn much of the natural gas which used to supply fertilizer
factories.
World leaders are also welcoming the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s major effort to create a renewed Green Revolution
to create the first high-yield farming in sub-Saharan Africa, supply the last surge of human population growth worldwide, and
provide higher-quality diets for the tropical countries.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Agriculture, the Economy, & Human Welfare:
Policy Issues Relating to Food Production
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
China, the Far East, & U.S. Foreign Policy
Dennis T. Avery is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., and is the Director of the Institute's Center for
Global Food Issues (www.cgfi.org). Formerly he was a senior policy analyst for the United
States Department of State, where he won the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. He is the co-author, with
atmospheric physicist Fred Singer, of the book, Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1500 Years (Blue Ridge Summit,
Pennsylvania: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). Avery's book, Saving the Planet With Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental
Triumph of High-Yield Farming (Washington, D.C.: Hudson Institute, 1995), continues to be popular as a readable overview
of realistic agriculture for the future and for today. Readers may write Avery at Post Office Box 202, Churchville, Virginia, 24421.
Email: cgfi@hughes.net
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity