25 February 2011

How to (cleanly) solve the world's food problems

Posted by  Futurity to Holy Kaw!

Golden rice is a perfect example of the challenges surrounding feeding the world. The genetically modified rice could go a long way to solving the world's vitamin A deficiency problem, but its production has been held up by years of testing required by many countries.

Nina Fedoroff, professor of biology and life sciences at Penn State, says the key to feeding without polluting is being resourceful and efficient.

“We need to expand our ability to farm on land not considered farmable because it is eroded or desertified, using water not considered suitable for farming because it is wastewater or saltwater,” she says. “We need to adapt current crops to higher temperatures and less water and we need to domesticate plants that have evolved to grow at high temperatures and in salty soils.”

Full story at Futurity.

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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

 

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