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Sustainable Agriculture and
Food Security: Does
Biotechnology have a Role?
Maarten J. Chrispeels
University of California San Diego
[email protected]
The long term goals of ag. biotechnology:
1.  To reduce inputs in high-input systems
(Developed countries).
2. To increase productivity of low input
systems (Developing countries)
3. To introduce crop non-uniformity, avoid
catastrophes.
As a human endeavor, agriculture is a
success: food production has outpaced
population during a century of rapid
population growth primarily because of
the continued introduction of new
technologies (genetics and inputs).
Internationally, enormous challenges remain
800 million
people live
on 1 $ per
day and are
food insecure
Food insecurity is declining slowly, but we are highly unlikely to reach the
UN development goal (World Food Summit). Much of the decline is due
to improvements in a few countries,especially China and Brazil.
What vision do we have for food production?
1. Every person has sufficient food for a healthy life
2. Food is affordable (low cost?)
3. Food production is (ecologically) sustainable 4. Farmers and farm workers live with dignity
Sustainable agriculture is the ability
to maintain long-term stable levels of
food production and quality without
escalating requirements for inputs to
maintain the system.
Uniform “systems” require constant inputs
and are inherently unsustainable
Many agricultural practices are
not sustainable
Soil erosion
Farm worker
housing
Manure lagoons
Coastal water
pollution
Texas
Gulf of Mexico
Dust storms
Salinization
Texas
Aquaculture on the
China coast
Irrigation with fossil
water
Nitrogen fertilizer and
nitrous oxide release
Overgrazing and soil
organic matter decline
500 years + of
continuous
agriculture
Pieter Breughel
2025
2000
1975
1950
In LDCs
overpopulation
and
inappropriate
practices make
food production
unsustainable
In DCs high inputs and inappropriate
practices are contributors to lack of
sustainability
Nitrogen fertilizers
Pesticides
Irrigation
Industrial animal production
We can’t solve today’s problems
with yesterday’s technologies
Ukraine farmer tilling the world’s most fertile soil
When plant breeders get involved,
things really begin to happen..
Norman Borlaug
How do we use genetics to:
(1) reduce inputs
(2) make low-input systems
productive
(3) stabilize systems
(4) produce crops adapted to 2050
conditions?
The long term goals of ag. biotechnology:
1.  To reduce inputs in high-input systems
(Developed countries).
2. To increase productivity of low input
systems (developing countries).
3. To introduce non-uniformity, avoid
catastrophes.
Chemical Genomics with plants
Schematic of a forward chemical genomics screen
using Arabidopsis
Germinate
Add compound library to
multiwell plates
Screen for specific phenotype
Chemical Genomics
Approaches
Chemicals that affect the sorting of
CPY to the vacuole
Zouhar et al (2004) Proc Natl Acad Sci 101:9497
Norambuena et al (2008) BMC Chem Biol 8:1
Chemicals that affect gravitropic
response and vacuolar biogenesis
Surpin et al (2005) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:4902.
Rojas-Pierce et al. (2007) Chem Biol 14:1366.
# 5 Proteomics and network analysis:
The ball of knowledge!
Using proteomics to identify disease
resistance signaling
Phosphorylation of PEN3 (ABC transporter) induced by
RPM1
Phosphopeptides
120
100
80
60
40
4hr
20
2hr
0hr
Pool
0
R (9
avr+R (10
peptides)
peptides)
Normalized iTRAQ Intensity
Normalized iTRAQ Intensity
Non-modified peptides
700
600
500
400
300
200
4hr
2hr
0hr
Pool
100
0
R (S45)
avr (15
peptides)
avr+R
(S45)
avr+R
(S40)
avr
(S45)
Key:
R
= RPM1
avr + R = Dex::avrRpm1 + RPM1
avr
= Dex::avrRpm1 + rpm1
Pool = mix of all samples
0hr = just before Dex added
2hr = 2 hours after Dex added
4hr = 4 hours after Dex added
Steve Briggs lab, UCSD
# 6. Creation of GMOs. The insertion of an
insecticidal Bt gene into cotton allowed the
creation of lepidoptera-resistant cotton thereby
reducing the need for pesticides
Not GMO
GMO
In the LDCs we need
more than genes… We
need better cropping
systems especially for
hillsides
Alley cropping:
cowpea and leucana
Hillside farming
Improve rural markets, infrastructure
and institutions.
Roads, markets, transportation, banks that lend money, small seed
companies, irrigation canals, etc. Without access to markets, farmers
have no incentives to produce.
Improve international and national
macroeconomic policies
OECD countries subsidize agriculture to the tune
of US$ 250 B per year, thereby distorting trade.
Tariffs on agricultural products are much higher
than on industrial goods.
Improve
development
of human
resources
Farmer field school participants
Brasil
Improve
management of
natural resources
for the benefit
of all people
Haiti
Madagascar
Agricultural practices and
sustainability are heavily
influenced by sociopolitical forces.
Brussels
Beijing
Washington DC
Hey, we pay the
Piper, let’s call
the tune
Can/will biotechnology contribute to
sustainability of our “built environment”?