Time for a rational approach to agriculture

Caroline Boin, Environment Programme Director at International Policy Network, a London-based charity and think tank, today issued the following statement, following the Oxford Farming Conference:

"Environmental pressure groups continue to peddle romantic fallacies about agriculture. They are short on real solutions to feeding the world and reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, and they trivialise the important role played by science and modern technology in achieving sustainable agriculture.
 
"They fail to recognise the fact that modern agricultural technologies -- including hybrid seeds, fertiliser, pesticides, and genetically modified crops -- are the reason that agriculture has produced enough food to feed a growing population over the past few decades.  

"These challenges remain pertinent today. Modern agricultural technologies will be even more important going forward in the 21st Century, to increase food production while making agriculture more sustainable. Manure and back-breaking manual labour are not the answer to attaining food security in the UK or the rest of the world."