Why India needs transgenic crops

[Michael Perelman]

Look, I don't have a magic policy answer; I am only saying that the
technology wand isn't the solution.  Many of the farmers are already
closing up shop in the US.  More will have to go soon unless they figure
out a solution to the water problem.  As Carrol mentioned, dropping water
tables around the US are scary.  Cal. ag is the most productive in the
country, but it too depends on water.

The answer is not to go back to a neolithic lifestyle nor to trust
technology, but to start working out an understanding of how the whole
picture fits together.

On Tue, Jul 30, 2002 at 01:56:26PM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Michael Perelman wrote:
> 
> >The problem is that cheap, subsidized  grain hurts ag. production in the
> >poor countries, driving more people to the cities, causing problems.
> 
> So what's the takeway, as the nonprofit types say? That the U.S. 
> should garage the farm equipment, empty the cities, and send us all 
> back to the land, or that it's an urgent priority that poor countries 
> mechanize their agriculture? Or is there some third option I'm 
> missing?
> 
> Doug

-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu