The legacy of Industrial Agriculture With the world population passing the 6 billion mark last October, the debate over our ability to sustain a fast growing population is heating up. Biotechnology advocates in particular are becoming very vocal in their claim that there is no alternative to using genetically modified crops in agriculture if "we want to feed the world". Actually, that quote might be true. It depends what they mean...

The UN's food and agriculture arm today advocated the use of jatropha for producing bio-diesel and said the crop can help farmers improve their financial condition in dry areas. "Using the energy crop jatropha for bio-diesel production could benefit poor farmers, particularly in semi-arid and remote areas of developing countries," said a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Jatropha curcas grows...

The foodgrains output for 2009-10 is expected to be 16.27 million tonnes lower at 218.20 million tonnes than the record production of 234.47 million tonnes last year. The decline, mainly in rice, edible oils and coarse cereals, is due to the widespread drought in the kharif season last year. Significantly, the government has slightly lowered the expected production of wheat in the fourth advance estimates to 80.71 million tonnes from 80.98 million...

The goal of food for all can be achieved only through greater and integrated attention to production, procurement, preservation and public distribution. The President, in her address to Parliament on June 4, 2009, announced: “My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in...

A crop-killing fungus is spreading out of Africa towards the world’s great wheat-growing areas IT IS sometimes called the “polio of agriculture”: a terrifying but almost forgotten disease. Wheat rust is not just back after a 50-year absence, but spreading in new and scary forms. In some ways it is worse than child-crippling polio, still lingering in parts of Nigeria. Wheat rust has spread silently and speedily by 5,000 miles in...