A field of organic crops
Modern, industrial agriculture has much to answer for: it has degraded the earth's soil, polluted its water, parched its streams, and destroyed animals and plant species. Widespread use of pesticides has led to the emergence of pesticide-resistance weeds, while excessive use of fertiliser contributes to global warming and the run-off pollutes water and harms fish. Food scares and epidemics are increasingly commonplace, and in response demand for organic food is skyrocketing.
As is all too common with unsound industries, when people and governments in one part of the world wake up to bad industrial practices, these industries shift to poorer countries. GM - the ugly stepdaughter of industrial agriculture - is no different. The GM industry has wasted no time in claiming that whatever those of us in Europe think about GM, it will be necessary to feed the growing world population. This propaganda campaign for GM to feed the world is led by the proponents of vitamin A rice.
Greenpeace is working to help to change the systems we use to produce our food, both in the developed and developing world. Greenpeace is working for solutions for people and their environment. To properly address hunger, we need to support sustainable farming that meets the needs of the local people and environment. Successive studies have documented the social and environmental benefits of sustainable low-input and organic farming in both the North and the South. These offer a practical way of restoring agricultural land degraded by industrial 'Green Revolution' farming, and allowing family farmers to fight poverty and hunger.
Sustainable agriculture leads to better soil, a varied locally grown diet, increased harvests, a better environment and increased food security. GM agriculture only serves to divert resources away from these more sustainable solutions.
