Hybrids have become so widely grown that many plant varieties have gone extinct. Only three percent of cultivated food crops available in 1900 exist today. This places our food supply in a precarious situation. For example, in 1970, twenty percent of the U.S. corn crop was destroyed by a fungus because geneticists had placed a particular gene in the several major corn varieties which was susceptible to the fungus. Diversity in food crops is declining across the globe, compromising food security:
....hybrids are at the soft center of a food system that is teetering on a dangerously small platform of plants. The world relies on just one hundred fifty food plants, and only twenty of those produce 90 percent of our food. Nine are widely used, and account for three-quarters of the human diet. Of these, just three--rice, corn and wheat--account for half. These are truly slim pickings, considering that there are thirty thousand to eighty thousand edible plants.Multi-national seed companies have been very successful at marketing a limited range of hybrids. When farmers begin growing the hybrids, varieties they formerly raised are no longer propagated.
The Green Revolution spread seed uniformity around the world. In 1970, Norman Borlaugh received the Nobel peace prize for developing a high yielding hybrid wheat. When the seeds were introduced to a number of developing countries many speculated that world-wide food security would finally become reality. For example, India's wheat production doubled, making it food self sufficient. Unfortunately, the hybrid wheat only produced high yields if supplied with adequate fertilizer. Because fertilizer makes weeds grow prolifically, herbicides were also necessary. Costly irrigation systems were required in order to provide the hybrid wheat with plenty of water. In addition to these expensive inputs, the seeds themselves cost two to three times more than regular seeds. As hybrids displaced local varieties in regions across the world, seed uniformity became an international phenomena.
Typically, seed companies sell first generation hybrids which force farmers to buy new seed each season rather than saving seed from their crops as they have traditionally done. Seeds from first generation hybrids are unstable and often do not grow out true to form.
Farmers have become further dependent on seed suppliers as seed companies have lobbied for patent protection, such as the 1970 Plant Variety Patent Act, over the varieties they breed. In 1991, Congress passed a bill which barred farmers from exchanging saved seed. In the past, farmers frequently sold saved seed to each other. Patenting was taken a step further when a Supreme Court ruling in 1980 made it possible for companies to patent genes. In 1992, DuPont Agricultural Products patented a gene that makes soybeans resistant to certain herbicides. DuPont has marketed the engineered soybeans effectively; it is estimated that five million acres of these soybeans will be planted this year.
Monsanto, another multinational chemical company, is introducing a Roundup resistant soybean to the market this year. Farmers who will be planting these soybeans must sign a contract in which they agree to spary their crop with Roundup, an inexpensive but potent herbicide sold by Monsanto. Furthermore, the contract prohibits them from saving or exchanging the seed. Farmers are drawn to the deal because Roundup is affordable and less toxic than many other herbicides.
Biologists have recently conducted successful experiments involving the plant gene that triggers flowering. Their research may reduce the time necessary to breed new plant varieties by 70 percent. The finding may enable commercial breeders to engineer crops that mature more quickly, which would expand agricultural opportunities in geographical areas with short growing seasons. The research also opens the possibility of creating genetically engineered trees that mature rapidly. Currently, trees mature slowly, discouraging commercial tree farming ventures because of the time involved in making a profit.
Where Have all the Farmers Gone?
Farmers and the "Agri-business Chain"
Reducing Risk Through Pest Control
Increasing Yields With Chemical Fertilizers
Genetic Engineering and Agriculture
Rationalization Through Mechanization