GEOG 1410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 31: Soybean, Antiscience, Agribusiness
7 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
GEOG 1410
February 1, 2018
Agriculture in a Global Context
From the Green Revolution to the Gene-revolution
Changes in food regime
● Colonial Regime
● Post-colonial regime
● New Agricultural regime
○ Tesco: supermarket; buys flowers from Kenya; Kenya does not have a lot of
water, but still produces flowers.
○ One rose plant drinks one litre of water every day.
○ Africa not only exports flowers, but it exports water
○ The new regime, as during colonial times, land and water and labour are
being used in less developed world to produce export items, but they are no
longer what they used to be in colonial times; flowers, shrimp, luxury items
○ Export high value agricultural goods, consumed by rich people in developed
countries, giving less food to developed countries
● Less than 5% of the workforce is engaged in Agriculture
● Food grains are being exported from rich countries to poor countries, complete 180
● Shrimp is a luxury commodity, many poor people cannot afford it
● Post-colonial - no longer under colonial rule
● Third world agriculture and Western MNCs
● Bio-Revolution
○ In the 1970s - 1980s the seed producers said the introduction of HYVs would
end hunger and help poor farmers
○ Yet big agribusiness companies got richer and many small scale farmers
suffered
○ Profits in agri-chemicals dropped - GM companies - Genetically modified.
Need for a new technology to sell to beat HYV seeds.
○ Green Revolution “not a total failure” many people thought it would help poor
people, yet we saw agribusiness countries get richer. Large scale farmers
benefited more.
● Genetically Modified Based Agriculture
○ GM-based super plants (own fertilizers and pesticides)
○ Can grow in adverse conditions (dry soil)
○ Resistance to drought, diseases, and insects
○ Can increase yields
○ Monsanto
● Other potentially useful qualities:
○ They have genes that make them last longer - less wastage
○ A GM potato at Edinburgh University: glows green when it needs water
■ A gene taken from a jellyfish, produces fluorescent protein, added to
potato
● Issues/Controversies
Document Summary
Tesco: supermarket; buys flowers from kenya; kenya does not have a lot of water, but still produces flowers. One rose plant drinks one litre of water every day. Africa not only exports flowers, but it exports water. Export high value agricultural goods, consumed by rich people in developed countries, giving less food to developed countries. Less than 5% of the workforce is engaged in agriculture. Food grains are being exported from rich countries to poor countries, complete 180. Shrimp is a luxury commodity, many poor people cannot afford it. Post-colonial - no longer under colonial rule. In the 1970s - 1980s the seed producers said the introduction of hyvs would end hunger and help poor farmers. Yet big agribusiness companies got richer and many small scale farmers suffered. Profits in agri-chemicals dropped - gm companies - genetically modified. Need for a new technology to sell to beat hyv seeds.
