In order to feed billions of people on Earth today – and the billions more expected by 2050 – we need a second Green Revolution. That’s according to Dr. Jonathan Lynch, professor of plant nutrition at Penn State. He explained that the Green Revolution of the 1960’s was spurred by agricultural advances.
Jonathan Lynch: The first Green Revolution was using fertilizers and irrigation to improve yields.
Lynch said the second Green Revolution can’t depend on irrigation or fertilizer. He said that’s because many farmers in developing countries can’t afford either. To grow more food under tough conditions affordably, Dr. Lynch said, we’re going to have to breed plants with improved roots.
Jonathan Lynch: The roots are the part of the plant that take up water and nutrients. So if you want a plant that is going to be better at getting water and nutrients, you’ve got to have better roots.
Working with staple crops like beans and corn, Lynch identifies which root traits – like deep, or shallow -will help plants get the sustenance they need.
Jonathan Lynch: For some nutrients like phosphorous which are in the top soil, we want shallow roots.
Lynch then collaborates with plant breeders. He said evidence suggests that just changing the seeds to varieties with improved roots can double or triple farmers’ yields. Lynch is using traditional breeding techniques (in other words, not using genetic modification) to achieve better roots for plants, and seeds for those new plants. He told EarthSky that the greatest need for increased agricultural productivity is in poor countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Jonathan Lynch: Soils are bad. They don’t have enough money for fertilizer. They’re prone to drought. They don’t have enough water for irrigation. Yet they are dependent on agriculture. They live off the land. They’re subsistence farmers. What can you do? The approach of going in and changing the seed is something they can do. They don’t have to learn any new techniques or borrow any money, it’s just a different seed.
Lynch said there’s a lot of diversity within the roots of plants, which give plant breeders many choices for creating new, more efficient seed varieties.
Jonathan Lynch: We have different types of branching patterns that are good. We have roots that are thin or roots that are thick. We have roots that have long hairs, microscopic hairs, that stick out from them that help get nutrients. So there’s a lot of genetic diversity. Those are kind of differences we’re trying to take advantage of.
He described how each plant’s roots can be tailored to its needs and environment.
Jonathan Lynch: In the case of plants that need more water or more nitrogen, those are things that go deep into the soil. Our idea is that we want roots that go cheap, steep and deep. They’re cheap roots, so they can grow very well, and they have a very steep growth angle, and they end up being very deep, so they can get that deep water and deep nitrogen.
Lynch said the process of changing a culture’s food source can be difficult. In addition to discovering which root systems work the best, scientists also have to learn what it takes for a new seed to be adopted by farming communities. They also have to be sensitive to the cultural implications of certain crop varieties.
Jonathan Lynch: We don’t want to say, stop growing your corn and start growing this corn from the U.S. We want to say, keep growing the corn you like but now we’re going to give you some seeds just like that, but have better roots.
Hey…I don’t see anyone running screaming from the room crying that these new plants would be un-natural, whether they are (dare I say it) Genetically Modified or not…Wow.
No panic.
People seem to be maturing a bit. Jonathan Lynch’s logic is…logical!
altho I am not sure he was talking about pesticides and fertilizers IN THE GMO plants, which makes a big difference.
Just to clarify, Dr. Lynch is not talking about GMO plants. The plant breeding techniques he’s talking about have been going on since humans began to cultivate plants: Choosing the ones with the most preferable traits for the environment. But now we have a much better understanding of plant genetics.
While I certainly see Dr. Lynch’s work as very laudable, it just could be that the real “green revolution” we need is Soylent Green. I’m not going to go so far as to say we need to give euthanasia a second look, but you’ll have to admit, we really have a problem.
The site should also contain 3gp videos for mobile and quick download. Also there should be discovery channel like videos. As far as Youtube is concerned it does not run on our slow connections.
Dr. Lynch has surely heard of using mycorrhizae-rich fertilizers to increase root growth. Farmers in Korea have been culturing their own mycorrhizae (ie: Natural Farming with Indigenous Microorganisms) and using it with great success. We’ve learned the basics of Natural Farming with Indigenous Microorganisms here in Hawaii and the result has been hardier, more disease-resitant plants with larger harvests. The health of the soil and plant will determine the root size. Google mycorrhizae or http://www.janonglove.com for more information.
every lil thing is gonna be alright now dont worry about a thing . if u do not worrie there will be nothing to worrie about.
Dr Janathan Lynch. I wish I can send some information to you about,Greatly increases the ability of plants to absorb netrients from the soil, WE have best product in the world to make all plants absorb netrients from the soil,dose not use changing the seeds.means any seeds they can Lush and prolific growth .concentrate on farming needs all function. As posible send me e mail address I can send you sample and more you need.
Regards
wellyhuang
The reason folks in these underdeveloped countries is due to economics. Specifically, their economic systems. No sort of collectivism or tyranny will help this.
We do need a revolution. A revolution of personal and economic freedom. A revoution that establishes once and for all, that each person, each individual, is sovereign in his or her own right and owns not only themselves, but the product of their thought, risk and labor. Then, and only then, will poverty decline significantly.
Breeding new plants is great. Breeding more producive meat and milk animals is great. But all to no avail if the economic systems prevent folks from profiting from their own labor. Man must be able to own and control real property or all of this “research” is just an academic exercise.
Would you say that the US economy is the shining star for the rest of the world? How productive will modern US agriculture be without the subsidy of oil?
Many of the poorer farmers are only alive because of a myriad of small, collective economies. The last time the US attempted to fix peasant economies resulted in enormous anguish in Latin America.
The entire world needs an agricultural revolution, the US included. It will take more than ‘individual sovereignty’ to achieve this.
Dear Prof Lynch
I am very keen on the idea of cultivating edible mushrooms for food security and ealth creation using waste (paper especially) as substrate.
Please advice if you have any information on this method.
I look forward to your comment.
Tshego.
+27(0)82 927 9534.
Etshego@re-action.co.za
Plant breeding has given us a much higher crop production. I must admit that finding an article supporting GMO crops here is a bit surprising. Kinda looks like a Monsanto commercial.
All that being said, genetic engineering is a two edged sword. It can give us a much better product. It also can result in a single company that bought the correct politicians and regulators having the only game in town. I submit this is not a simple question.