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News Releases Food for thought at opening of International Plant Protection Congress 15 October 2007 “We must defend our ability to protect our crops against pests, diseases and weeds by the appropriate use of modern technology. “If we do not, we shall legalise modern starvation.” These were the sobering words of Hugh Oliver-Bellasis, President of the British Crop Production Council, during his speech in Glasgow today at the opening ceremony of the XVI International Plant Protection Congress and International Congress and Exhibition. Mr Oliver-Bellasis, who is also chairman of Royal Agricultural Society of England, said in a speech entitled ‘Modern technology or modern starvation?’ that a lack of information ensuring that producers had a clear picture of “tonnes required”, was a contributory factor to the global problem of hunger. He said that the politicians and urban civil servants forget that there is just one crop a year. “Perhaps they also forget that yields are variable – even with the help of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides,” he suggested. “As we go to bed tonight there will be 850 million people in the world without enough food to eat. Part of that is due to poor distribution but it’s also because of our inability to produce enough for those who need it,” he said. He suggested that the agricultural industry should also shoulder some blame questioning whether it [the industry] had set out to convince critics of the value of chemistry and the processes that deliver it – and he asked what the “We also hear continued criticism of the use of chemicals as aids in crop production,” he continued. “Much of that criticism is unjustified given the regulatory procedures around the world but we, as users, distributors and manufacturers all have to take care not to do anything that could enhance their criticisms of the use of these chemicals.” Mr Oliver-Bellasis went on to say that there was a risk that if the antipathy to sophisticated plant breeding, agrochemicals and biotechnology continued to grow then the ability to produce more would evaporate swiftly. The solution he suggested was two-fold. “It won’t be easy but we have to convince the policy makers that there is a political issue to be addressed as well as a practical one. We must make more effort to inform our consumers about the realities of the world situation and what better time to do that than when the price of wheat was escalating due to production shortages around the world?” Mr Oliver-Bellasis concluded. *The XVI International Plant Protection Congress is being run in association with IAPPS and the BCPC International Congress and Exhibition. |
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