09/01/14 16:04:09
>>404の続きです。お願いします。
So-called precision agriculture changes the way farmers manage their fields.
Using sophisticated computer systems and global positioning satellites,
a farmer can modify the amount of fertilizer, seeds, and water applied within a single field based on varying soil and moisture conditions. Techniques such as these bring efficiency gains of between 7% and 15%.
Meanwhile, the genomic revolution is coming to farming. When the Maize Genome Sequencing Project is completed this fall, seed producers will be able to identify the genes for key traits of various crops faster and more cheaply.
At the same time, resistance by some countries to genetically modified grains appears to be easing.
But there's a catch. Now that some crops, such as corn and sugar, are fuel as well as food, advances in agricultural productivity won't automatically improve the food supply. "Crops will go to the highest bidder,
and we in the Western world are willing to pay more for fuel than poor people are able to pay for food," says Patrick S. Schnable, professor of agronomy at Iowa State University and a researcher on the maize project.