Agricultural biotechnology promotes grain production

Introduction: on May 28, 2008, Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, held a media Forum on agricultural biotechnology in Beijing Lin min, director of the Institute of biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Dr Harvey Grick, a scientist of Monsanto Company, respectively made keynote reports at the symposium The scientists made a detailed introduction to the current situation and trend of global and domestic food demand and supply, the role of agricultural biotechnology in promoting food production, and the positive environmental benefits, and conducted in-depth discussions with the participating media In addition, Mr Michael fan, the new president of Greater China region of Monsanto, also made a speech at the meeting In recent years, the world's food demand has grown rapidly The growth of global population leads to the increase of food demand According to the prediction of demographers, the global population may reach 7.2 billion by 2015 To feed the new population, 2.39 billion tons of food supply and 1.57 billion mu of cultivated land should be increased At present, the dietary structure of human beings is gradually improving, and the per capita consumption of meat and dairy products is increasing year by year, which leads to the demand of feed grain increasing year by year In terms of supply, global warming has brought adverse effects on food production According to the world bank, food production will be reduced by 1% - 1.7% for every degree of global temperature rise The growth rate of global per unit grain production has declined rapidly, from 2.7% in the 1960s to 0.8% now In addition, the acceleration of urbanization worldwide also affects food production At present, the acceleration of global urbanization has led to the decline of the proportion of people engaged in agricultural production year by year According to the world bank, more than 100 million people around the world are starving because of food shortages In the current situation, all parties are seeking solutions As a powerful driving force of agricultural science and technology revolution, agricultural biotechnology has shown great potential in improving food productivity and increasing production in the 12 years of its application By using biotechnology, we can develop agricultural products with more suitable biological characteristics for people's needs As a result, crops can increase the ability of drought resistance, alkali resistance, disease and insect resistance, so as to increase the per unit yield and effectively ensure the supply of food Dr Harvey of Monsanto said that in the first 12 years of biotech crop cultivation, the global planting area exceeded 100 million hectares The high planting rate reflects farmers' satisfaction with the products, which provide tangible benefits, covering more convenient and flexible crop management, lower production costs, higher yield per hectare or net benefits, and making the environment cleaner by reducing traditional pesticides, thus serving sustainable agriculture Judging from the domestic situation, the food gap is expanding In 2030, China's population will reach 1.5 billion Even if the current per capita demand remains unchanged, food production needs to grow by 0.5% - 0.7% annually to support these people With the steady increase of residents' income and the improvement of living standards, the consumption upgrading trend is significant, and the total consumption demand scale of agricultural products will continue to expand From the perspective of supply, China's grain planting area is on the decline trend, with an average annual decline of 0.65% and cultivated land area of 0.7% However, problems such as water shortage and ecological vulnerability will become more prominent, and the supply situation of agricultural products is not optimistic In terms of grain production, the growth of grain per unit area production has dropped from 2.1% in the 1990s to 1.1% now If there is no new breakthrough in science and technology, it will be difficult for agricultural production to achieve substantial growth and to reach a new level Therefore, agricultural biotechnology is very important, even decisive, to promote the transformation from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture Lin min, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, believes that in today's international competition, the development of agricultural biotechnology has a very far-reaching significance At present or in the future, biotechnology is an important supplement and development of conventional technology Biotechnology needs to be combined with conventional breeding and other technologies for common development In the long run, biotechnology represents the future development direction of agricultural science and technology in response to the challenges of China's food shortage, resource shortage, pollution, climate change and other environmental problems In the process of our agricultural modernization, agricultural biotechnology is very important It is understood that Monsanto's product R & D line in the world includes high-yield crops such as insect resistant, disease resistant and herbicide resistant crops, as well as various stress resistant crops such as drought resistant corn and nitrogen efficient use crops that adapt to climate change and relieve environmental pressure At present, Monsanto is committed to increasing crop production We hope to help Chinese farmers produce more food, feed and fiber on a limited land area to ensure that agriculture can meet the needs of the future population In addition, by reducing investment, rational use of natural resources, increasing farmers' income, and maintaining a healthier ecosystem " About Monsanto Monsanto Company is an international company that integrates research and development of agricultural biotechnology, seed production and sales, and is committed to applying innovative technology to the planting industry Through investment in breeding and biotechnology, efforts should be made to develop a series of products that can bring higher yield and benefits to farmers and the environment Every day, the company invests more than $2 million to explore and market innovative technologies Over the past decade, the application of biotechnology products around the world has witnessed the value and benefits of this innovative technology to farmers and the environment We are currently investing in the development of a new generation of biotechnology products that will benefit farmers, the environment and end consumers in the near future.