Reply to post: @ Hollerithevo

GM crops are good for you and the planet, reckon boffins

Triggerfish

@ Hollerithevo

I'd say cash crops and consumer power are probably more damaging.

For example

Quinoa, a staple part of the South American diet for the poor, except now they've been priced out, is causing deforestation as people chop down trees to make space for it, and is taking away the diversity of other crops because people are growing crops for profit rather than food. (I believe in the Irish potato famine Ireland was exporting a lot of food as cash crop so gues it's not new).

Diversity of crops due to consumers, there's 40.000 varities of rice, if you go to places in South America and South East Asia they have farming culture that adapted over thousands of years in an effort to make use of every part of the land and it's conditions. But consumers (or maybe the supermarkets and buyers) want only certain varieties, not only does this mean you may have to buy GM crops if you want to be able to sell, but it also means that farmland that would be highly productive for some food species are being under utulisied to grow something to sell. (Which has knock on effects for the locals feeding themselves). It also means you run the risk of the world becoming dependent on certain crops, Cavendish Bananas for example which are being hit by a virus (I also seem to remeber hearing something about the propogation methods for these fruit not helping it's genetic diversity, may be wrong on that).

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