The World in 2030

The World in 2030 119
raise promiscuously flatulent cattle is not sustainable. There
is no easy answer as the world must eat, but synthetic food
(produced from chemicals), factory-grown meat and even
thoroughly tested and closely controlled genetically modified
food plants (genetically modified organisms or GMOs) will
have a role to play in some parts of the world.
This last observation is a matter of fact rather than
prediction as the trend is very clear. Between 1996 and 2005,
the total surface area of land cultivated with GMOs had
increased by a factor of 50, 236 from 17,000 km² (4.2 million
acres) to 900,000 km² (222 million acres), of which 55 per
cent were in the United States.
Friends of the Earth points out that even if the
environmental and human safety issues of GM crops could
be satisfactorily answered (and that, they say, is a very big
‘if’) the switch from natural seeds and crops to GM seeds and
crops would make the production of food the intellectual
property of the large corporations which own the relevant
patents. Food, which since the beginning of human existence
has been a natural resource would, if the GM model were
to prevail, become yet another product of big business.
Such proprietorial development does not chime with the
ambition for sustainable development and the effort to help
the world’s poorest people to help themselves to improve
their lives. Friends of the Earth states:
GM crops are not cheaper, are not better in quality
and do not present any benefits for consumers. This
is now even recognised by some parts of the biotech
industry. After 30 years of research and public money,