2024-01-06 14:12:44
Genetic engineering: here’s why this famous pioneer of organic farming advises Crispr/Cas9
Karl Bockholt, AGRARHEUTE*
© agrarfoto
Sowing and hoeing robot in organic onion cultivation: Professor Urs Niggli, 70, pioneer of organic farming, believes that conventional agriculture and modern genetic engineering are essential to supply the growing world population with food in the future. “With exclusively organic agriculture, we would be forced to destroy even more natural spaces to be able to feed populations,” says the Swiss agronomist.
Professor Urs Niggli, an ecology thinker, believes that conventional agriculture and genome editing are essential. We need to feed more and more people globally. At the same time, climate change continues.
© Michael Fritschi
The Swiss Prof. Dr. Dr. Urs Niggli is considered a pioneer of organic farming.
Professor Urs Niggli, 70, a thinker on organic agriculture, believes that conventional agriculture optimized according to ecological criteria and modern breeding methods is essential to supply food to the growing world population in the future.
“With exclusively organic agriculture, we would be forced to destroy even more natural spaces to be able to feed populations,” explains the Swiss agronomist.
What the pioneer of organic farming says regarding conventional farming and genetic engineering
According to the organic farming expert, this is not possible only with organic. This is how he is quoted by the newspaper Evangelische Zeitung (KNA). This pioneer of organic farming headed the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in Switzerland for 30 years, was a lecturer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and honorary professor at the University of Kassel in the field of ecological agricultural sciences.
He is an honorary doctor of the Estonian University of Environmental Sciences in Tartu and an honorary professor of the China Agricultural University in Beijing. He also led the evaluation of agricultural research at universities in Lower Saxony, participated in the World Food Summit and was an EU expert for the legal framework of the farm to fork strategy. “.
Why the world’s food supply does not only come from organic farming
Organic farming means around 15 to 45 percent less yield per area compared to conventional farming. But at the same time, we must feed more and more people on earth. “And to become more productive, especially in periods of extreme weather, new genetic engineering can help us,” says Mr. Niggli.
According to him, the soils on organic farms are often more fertile than those on conventional farms. In addition, biodiversity is greater on biological surfaces. And organic products contain practically no residues of phytosanitary products. “But if we want to feed the world sustainably, we need to focus on conventional agriculture and make it more environmentally friendly. Organic farming would only work on a large scale in combination with a halving of food waste and a drastic reduction in meat consumption. »
Why views on genetic engineering and genetic scissors are often outdated
Mr. Niggli believes that the vision of a large part of the organic associations on modern genetic engineering is outdated. “Organic associations deliberately maintain the fear of molecular biology selection methods in order to be able to profile themselves on the market,” he explains. For Mr. Niggli, improving plants with genetic scissors is progress that brings many benefits to farmers and society.
“The risks are in any case lower, and it is good that we are finally discussing the opportunities and potentials. On the one hand, changes are also occurring in nature, and on the other hand, progress in breeding is much faster,” said the president of the Institute of Agroecology agroecology.science who spoke given the mission of advising agriculture. “But we should integrate the properties of varieties with the edited genome into sustainable and diversified agricultural systems. »
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* Karl Bockholt is cross-media editor at AGRARHEUTE, responsible for field crops and meadows. He has worked for more than 30 years at the Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag (dlv), following having worked for Feld & Wald (Girardet) and agrar-praxis (Konradin). A qualified farmer and engineer, he runs his farm in Münsterland as a sideline. He is a horseman, hunter and nature lover.
Source: Genetic engineering: That’s why this well-known organic pioneer recommends Crispr/Cas9 | agrarheute.com
My note: In a great ecumenical burst, the magazine headlined: “Bio-Papst Niggli: Brauchen auch Gentechnik für Welternährung”, the pope of organic: we also need genetic engineering to feed the world.
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