Feeding The World Requires A Second Green Revolution @ (NAPSA)—Atcurrent growth rates, the world’s population will increase from 6 billion people today to 9 billion by mid-century. To feed this growing population, the world’s farmers will have to grow twice the amount of food they do today, even as arable land and freshwater become scarcer. Howwill they do it? Feeding a growing global population is not a new problem. In the early 20th century, the developing world was facing issues similar to those we face today. Disaster was averted thanks in part to the are disease and insect resistant, as well as seed care and crop protec- tion products that further improve a plant’s ability to thrive in the face of pressures from insects, weeds, disease and environmental factors. For instance, the company hasintroduced a seed care product that enables wheat to use 35 percent less water. In corn, its Agrisure Artesian™ corn trait has demonstrated the potential to deliver 15 percent yield preservation under drought stress. Such advances can help pro- development and introduction in duce enough food to feed a growing population, conserve water resistant varieties of wheat, first in Mexico and later in Pakistan can improve crop productivity, the 1950s of high-yield, disease- and India. The introduction of these new high-yielding varieties and modern agricultural production techniques fomented a “Green Revolution” that saved millions from starvation. To meet looming global food security challenges will require a second Green Revolution. Thank- fully, the technology to enable a second Green Revolution is at hand. Leading agricultural companies such as Syngenta are already helping farmers grow more from less by developing new corn hybrids and soybean varieties that resources and protect the environment. “Agricultural biotechnology secure and improve yield and pro- duce higher-quality crops, and offers environmentally friendly solutions to the challenge facing farmers—to grow more from less. It is critical to the sustainability of agriculture,” said David Morgan, president, Syngenta North America. Modern agricultural technology’s ability to do precisely that has been demonstrated best in the United States, where farmers have long reaped the benefits. From 1987 to 2007, corn yields averaged gains of 2.2 bushels per acre per year—a 41 percent increase in productivity. Soybean yields climbed an impressive 29 percent. At the same time as these dra- matic increases in productivity, stress on the environment fell. Soil runoff, which the Environmental Protection Agency identi- fies as the primary cause of water pollution, has declined approxi- mately 69 percent per bushel of corn since 1987. Irrigation water use in corn farming has declined 27 percent and energy use has decreased by 37 percent. Using these advances in devel- oping countries could significantly boost world productivity. Experts estimate that practicing modern farming methods and technologies in Asia could boost productivity some 20 percent in just 10 years. In the past 10 years, Brazil has nearly doubled soybean produc- tion on the same amountof land. In Russia and Ukraine, winter wheat yields rose 75 percent in one program following the adop- tion of modern crop protection technology. The challenge to double food production may seem daunting, but history shows that with sound science, agricultural productivity can outpace a growing population.
