Biotechnology in agriculture: a worldwide upheaval

Without food, mankind has little use for medicine or industry. Agriculture, the oldest biotechnology, is therefore also the most fundamental to our well-being. The application of modern methods of biotechnology represents just the latest step in the march of technology in agriculture. But it coincides with a growing public awareness of the disadvantages that have accompanied previous progress — the environmental, economic and ethical problems that result from intensive farming in developed countries. There is a growing scientific awareness that biotechnology has applications in farming in the developing countries. In the next few pages, Allen Dines' snapshot of public feeling in the US and Joske Bunders' appraisal of appropriate agricultural biotechnology form a résumé of the changing climate in farming.