AgResearch chief accused of grovelling

A leading Waikato soil scientist says he was concerned to see AgResearch chief executive Andy West grovelling for money to fund research into solving an impending world food shortage.

Dr West said at last week's United States-New Zealand Agriculture and Food Workshop at Ruakura Research Centre that more research into genetic modification was needed to boost agricultural production before a world food shortage occurred as a result of global warming.

"If genetic modification can create more food from fewer inputs, I think we have a moral obligation to use it. With our current product mix, New Zealand can feed 17 million people," Dr West said.

Doug Edmeades, whose agKnowledge business is Hamilton-based, said Dr West had used an alarmist appeal to grab the headlines and solicit research dollars.

"Science should never be put in this grovelling, undignified position," Dr Edmeades said. "It is a direct consequence of commoditising and commercialising science."

Dr West, he said, had found himself in such a position after the Crown Research Institute reforms of 1991.

"I do not see genetic modification as a moral imperative – leave that emotive word out. GM is a logical step in the development of agriculture for the benefit of humanity."

Dr West defended his presentation: "I wasn't talking about money. I was talking about the moral imperative to use GM if it reduced the rate at which natural ecosystems were being converted to farmed systems, thereby sending further species extinct. This has nothing to do with money for science."

Dr West said the world needed to invest more in agricultural research and development.

"None of this is grovelling. If we need more global, agricultural R&D it might be in rice or soybean, not rangeland livestock."

Dr Edmeades expected to see GM plants and animals in use on New Zealand farms within a decade or two, once society's fears had been allayed.

"We must always remember that new technology makes us fearful – carrying warning flags in front of the new motor car and before that trains is a good example."

Asked whether there was a danger that scientists experimenting with GM might inadvertently unleash a disaster on the world Dr Edmeades said: "I guess the answer is yes. There's that potential. Caution is necessary under some circumstances."

Dr Nina Fedoroff, science adviser to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said at the workshop that new crops, methods and systems were needed to feed the world's growing population and only new science could provide the answer.

Describing the $1 billion worth of worldwide research into the problem as pathetic, Dr Fedoroff said: "It does not make sense to me. We should be investing far larger in world food production than we are. We will keep trying."

- © Fairfax NZ News