Originally published August 24 2011
Scientists respond to overuse of agricultural chemicals by genetically engineering crops to produce their own fertilizer
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) A couple of researchers from the University of Alberta (U-A) in Canada say they have come up with a novel new way to eventually end the practice of having to apply environmentally-harmful fertilizer chemicals to commercial crops.
Unfortunately, though, the plan has nothing to do with eliminating genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), or phasing out industrial monoculture and replacing it with small-scale polyculture. Published in the journal Science, a report explains that scientists are instead focusing on ways to genetically engineer synthetic plants that artificially produce their own fertilizers.
The mainstream scientific community is once again demonstrating to the world that it has absolutely no regard for the tried and true methods of agriculture that have sustained countless generations before us, nor does it care to acknowledge that its "solution" is actually the problem. Instead, the supposedly educated would rather continue manipulating nature in an effort to solve the problems caused by previous manipulations of nature, which by all estimation is a real-life example of insanity.
This endless cycle of tampering with nature in order to "fix" nature is only perpetually making things worse -- and yet modern science has a strange, almost obsessive, addiction to assuming the role of God in nature. Eventually, this out-of-control genetic manipulation and tampering is going to have very real and devastating consequences -- but by that point it will likely be too late to do anything about it.
Modern science always tries to treat symptoms of a problem rather than root cause
Speaking about his endeavors, U-A plant biologist Allen Good stated recently that farmers purchase more than $100 billion worth of nitrogen fertilizers a year to treat their crops. Good rightly admits that both the mining and use of these fertilizers is damaging to the environment, including even the post-use fertilizer runoff that ends up settling in streams and lakes and creating algae blooms.
All of this is true, of course -- commercial fertilizers and the industrial agricultural paradigm to which they cater are both an unsustainable environmental blight that cannot persist forever. But where Good goes wrong is in his solution to this problem, which only adds to it by interjecting more man-made "solutions" that only temporarily treat the symptoms of the problem, at best. And at worst, these interventions cause untold environmental and human destruction in the form of lost biodiversity and ill-health.
Some plants, of course, have the natural ability to split atoms of nitrogen gas and enhance their own growth through the creation of their own fertilizer, and the assimilation of certain bioactive elements.
But others, including wheat, rice, and corn -- which are widely-used staple crops around the world -- do not have this natural ability. And both Good and his colleague are under the false impression that reprogramming these crops to produce their own fertilizer will ultimately solve the problem.
Rotating crops and ending use of microorganism-destroying fertilizers and pesticides will improve soil conditions and boost crop yields naturally
The current agricultural system of planting endless acres of staple crops like corn and soy on the same plots of land year after year is precisely the reason why it is necessary to shower crops with millions of pounds of synthetic fertilizer in the first place.
If crops were properly diversified and rotated -- and soil treated properly in the process -- they would naturally produce fertile soil that boosts levels of beneficial soil microorganisms, and encourages nutrient uptake and overall plant health (http://www.naturalnews.com/020072.html).
"Because they are unable to synthesize minerals, plants must draw these substances from the soil," writes Marie-France Muller, MD, ND, PhD, in her book Colloidal Minerals and Trace Elements: How to Restore the Body's Natural Vitality.
"This is why the conditions of the soil on earth is of importance. If it is depleted -- which is frequently the case today -- fruits and vegetables will be devoid of these minerals ... [t]his underscores how seriously we need to care for the land in which our food is grown."
And as far as GMOs are concerned, these "frankencrops" have only worsened the situation, as the pesticides and herbicides they are doused in kill soil, and destroy any possibility for long-term crop sustenance apart from artificial injections of synthetic fertilizers.
With all of this in mind, it is pure lunacy to suggest that creating another GMO will help to eliminate the need for artificial fertilizer applications -- GMOs are one of the primary causes of the excessive need for artificial fertilizer application because of way in which they destroy the soil's natural ability to work synergistically with plants to produce it naturally (http://www.naturalnews.com/031597_Dirt_movie...).
The last thing the world needs is another GMO. Animal manure, crop rotation, biodiversity -- these are some of the natural, chemical-free methods by which soil becomes fertile naturally, and they are the true solution to the world's agriculture woes.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-...
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