We May Run Out of Food before Oil

H'mmm, and we should grow corn for running automobiles?
 
http://www.the-scientist.com/2006/3/1/62/1/
 
Our Food is Dying
Infectious agents are threatening the world's crops
 
You have no doubt been reading about the millions of chickens being
slaughtered in what appear to be increasingly hopeless attempts to
contain avian flu. Poultry, the most efficient converters of vegetable
matter into meat, pound for pound, are being taken out of the food chain
in many places. But crops, the staples the world relies on for its basic
calorie supply, are also threatened, as Canadian plant pathologist Dick
Hamilton, the former ProMED-mail plant moderator, recently wrote. Here
are a few morsels to give you the flavor:
 
Citrus: Due to a bacterial disease called citrus canker, production will
cease in the Emerald area of Queensland, the main citrus production area
of Australia. Tough luck on the Aussies, you may say, but in terms of
world orange juice supply, can't the United States and Brazil easily
fill the gap? Sorry. The exotically named bacterial disease
Huanglongbing has recently spread to citrus orchards in Japan, Brazil,
and the United States, where it threatens to become a serious problem.
 
Wheat: Leaf rust, also known as brown rust, is a fungal disease and one
of the most important wheat destroyers worldwide; yield losses may reach
40%. Resistant strains of wheat had been developed, but it is now
reported that the Lr 19 resistance gene for leaf rust no longer works.
 
Rice: Bacterial leaf blight and the kernel smut fungus have reduced
Asia's annual rice production by as much as 60%.
 
Bananas: Together with plantains, these are the most important
agricultural products in the tropics, with annual production of more
than 100 million metric tons. Their most important plague is known as
Panama disease, or Fusarium wilt, which is caused by a fungus. A new
variant of the fungus has been responsible for outbreaks and is
spreading in Southeast Asia. If it reaches the Americas and Africa, it
could have a severe impact on production.
 
Soybeans: Bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) caused significant crop losses in
2005. Yields from infected plants were lowered by 10%-40%, and grain
quality was reduced both in oil and protein. BPMV is spreading in the
North American region but has also been reported in Iran, suggesting
that infected seed may have been used for planting there. Southern bean
mosaic virus causes severe symptoms in beans and other important
leguminous food crops. It has been reported from Africa, North America,
South and Central America, France, and Iran. Soybean decline means less
animal feed, which has an impact on meat and dairy supplies.
 
Tomatoes: Begomoviruses are inflicting heavy damage on tomato crops in
Asia. Tomato leaf curl virus disease reduces tomato production
significantly, often causing 100% loss.
 
Cassava (mandioca): Cassava mosaic disease is caused by a group of
viruses, occurring in all cassava-producing regions of Africa, India,
and Sri Lanka. The disease results in annual yield losses estimated at 1
billion pounds sterling (US $1.8 billion).
 
Potato and onion threats were also reported in the second half of 2005.
These scourges are spreading and getting worse. Imagine breakfast
without orange juice and cereal, lunch without tomatoes in our BLT
sandwiches or on our pizzas, and dinner without ketchup on our fries or
tomato sauce on our spaghetti, not to mention the demise of the bloody
Mary. But joking aside, serious damage to the cassava or plantain crop
in Africa or to the rice crop in Asia could lead to starvation or at the
very least, severe malnutrition, leaving people open to infections that
would more likely be fatal in their weakened state.
 
Rather than pouring more chemicals onto the problem, or having to leave
fields unproductively fallow for years, gene sequencing of these
pathogens should be expedited to allow more rapid identification of
resistant strains of crops.
 
            --------------------------
 
Dick Fischer
~Dick Fischer~ Genesis Proclaimed Association
Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
 <http://www.genesisproclaimed.org> www.genesisproclaimed.org
 
 
Received on Thu Mar 9 12:23:56 2006