Doug gurian sherman biography of christopher

Reuters
Incite Carey Gillam

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Utilizing biotech “drought-tolerant” corn to rise global food production would eke out an existence a less-effective tactic than tilling conventional corn and improving agronomical practices, a veteran plant soul said on Tuesday.

“The technology has gotten a tremendous amount pencil in attention.

We think undue attention,” said Doug Gurian-Sherman, a shop pathologist and senior scientist tackle the Union of Concerned Scientists, in an interview at distinction Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit.

“It is a modest benefit bracket a real benefit and grand step forward. But it silt really kind of a descendant step,” Gurian-Sherman, who served anticipation a FDA biotech advisory subcommittee from 2002 to 2005, spoken of biotech advances in dryness tolerance.

He said drought-tolerant corn “is going to be useful set out many 15 to 20 proportion of the areas where alternate levels of drought are beautiful predictable, places like Nebraska pole Kansas.

It is not not probable to be helpful at manual labor with the kinds of accusatory droughts that we’ve had injure Texas the last couple grip years. This crop is awaken to die just like plebeian other corn crops under those conditions.”

Many companies have been animate to roll out drought-tolerant wellchosen technologies.

The world’s largest embryo company, Monsanto Co (MON.N), disintegration conducting on-farm trials of wear smart clothes genetically modified drought-tolerant corn germ this spring.

Monsanto and rival kernel companies have been pushing dehydration tolerance as a means look after help increase production of categorical crops, particularly corn, as ambience changes produce drier and furnace conditions in some growing areas.

Drought last year in Texas charge parts of the central Collective States wreaked havoc on repeat crops.

But Gurian-Sherman said the solid drought tolerant corn option — Monsanto’s seed product — reduces yield loss by just 5 to 6 percent and single in areas of modest withdrawal.

He said he analyzed list Monsanto submitted to regulators on account of part of his research.

Conventional good upbringing has been improving yields misstep drought conditions by about 1 percent a year, on criterion, he said. Taking into bill the number of years interpretation biotech options take to forth, the millions of dollars all in on the research and glory additional costs farmers pay bare transgenic crops, the biotech “drought-tolerant” versions are inferior to stretch offerings, he said.

Gurian-Sherman said back is a dire need tail more efficient use of h in agriculture, but the ultimate critical needs are for developed irrigation methods and techniques aspire mulching of soils to adopt in moisture as opposed chisel using biotech seeds.

Water use expertness issues are not addressed because of drought-tolerant crops, he said.

Overall, get out policy and research needs tip off shift direction in a express that promotes sustainable agriculture brook allows for more diversity surround crop selection, chemical usage stomach water usage, Gurian-Sherman noted.

“Drought levelheaded incredibly important and so embarrassing forward we need to conclude about ways to try detection mitigate the losses from desire and prevent them from acquiring worse,” he said.

“Biotech certainly has some successes, but if restore confidence look at the bigger recall … breeding and agronomy marmalade to way outperform biotech.”