Surprise, surprise! The Federated Farmers see genetic modification as an 'enormous opportunity' "The world is hungry and growing." says the Fed's president Bruce Wills, and he wants to see, says he does see, in his magic ball, genetic engineering feeding the starving of the world. "So long as we don't trip ourselves up environmentally." Oh,yes!
That the president of Federated Farmers is using a crystal ball to predict the future of New Zealand farming is bad enough, but for him to be seeing genetic engineering as the solution, is enough for some to dismiss Bruce as a dangerous crank. He's dressed his desire for the globally-loathed 'scienceing-up' of food though, by using the word 'green'. This will be a 'second green revolution', he declares in his Southland Times article today, that will 'supercharge agriculture'.
Mr Wills was expected to bring fresh, intelligent leadership to the Federation. These latest comments; his liking for the potentially ruinous use of genetic engineering in New Zealand and his fondness for his fortune telling with a crystal ball, prove otherwise.
No doubt Fonterra's top men, buoyed by Bruces powers of clairvoyance will announce shortly, their excited intention to introduce a super-duper, high-performing,save-the-world genetically-engineered pasture grass into New Zealand, which will, as per Bruce's crystal ball, save us and the planet in one terribly clever move!
14 comments:
Oh tiz wundafull!!
These philanthropic farmers and their goode deeds!
Feeding the hungry, not for money, but for the good of all human kind!!!
Shunda - biting the hand that feeds you!
What are you thinking???
Oh my God and here I was thinking we who are educated thus we know better than our foolish parents generation ....had ditched genetic engineering for good some years ago ...
As the song goes... "when will they ever learn...sometime passing......."
There'll be a concerted effort soon, Pauline, to 'sell' the great idea of ge crops, especially grass. Mark my words.
Had a read of Mr Wills rather odd comments today, not only did he use a crystal ball, but there was talk of alchemy as well. Then he just made up stuff like “science ecosystem”.
It seems that the dairy industry has realised it needs to use words like ‘environment’, ‘science’ & ‘ecosystem,’ pity though that some people don’t seem to know what they mean.
Do you reckon it’s worth a letter to the editor?
I would like to ask Mr Wills how he has factored in the rising cost of fuel in his future projections.
I've been penning one in my head all day, Viv - funny that you should mention it. I'll put pen to paper tomorrow.
have you got any scientific evidence for or against GE?
Yes
I decided to write to the Southland Times too and sent them this………….
Bruce Wills of Federated Farmers says he is using his crystal ball and predicts a 25% increase in primary industry exports in the next 8 years. He hopes this will happen with no increase in environmental impacts by using techniques such as genetic modification and nanotechnology. Perhaps Mr. Wills would care to explain exactly what new technology and products he is thinking of, how they are actually going to increase ‘production and value of products’ and what the side effects of their use would be.
Mr. Wills also spoke of ‘Fonterra’s alchemy of marketing and supply chain logistics’. Alchemy and crystal balls aside, I would also like to know how the extremely fuel intensive dairy industry is planning for peak oil.
There were so many points to respond to that my letter could have been twice as long as the original article, so I kept it brief. I don’t always get the ST (the ODT being my local) so if they do happen to print the letter, I’d be grateful if you’d let me know.
Do you reckon the Feds have a peak oil plan? I’m always amazed that they can make comments like “there is no reason why yields & value should not rise further”. What about loss of soil? What about the cost of oil? What about interest rates going up again?
That's a great letter, Viv. It'll compliment mine nicely :-)
Pithy is good, to my way of thinking. Brief, punchy and humorous letters get read, no matter what the ideology of the reader. Long letters not so much. As for the Feds other 'beliefs', let's wait and see how they respond to the pincer movement :-)
I'll post your letter when it appears in the Letters column.
If a tree falls?
And you're standing under it, will anyone hear your screams?
A bit of genetic engineering of farmer bloodlines might work wonders - they are the one bit of the food chain that hasn't seen any selective breeding for as long as.
A good one third should have the red chalk mark applied to the head and off to the works with them - that would do more for farm productivity and the environment than any amount of GE.
They would make funny tasting sausages no doubt but it would be for the greater good of humanity
Hugh Manati for Prime Minister, is what I've always said.
Your rural cleansing programme has a vaguely familiar ring to it, darkhorse.
Post a Comment