Wayne Tyson wrote: > Please supply evidence that genetic engineering or any other method can > double the productivity of any species without increasing the amount of > water and nutrients, I'll settle for a ratio of total biomass or grain yield > ratio to water
Wayne, lets look at the track record of the biotech and industrialized ag industry in the USA. In 2009 the The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture published a report http://tinyurl.com/26su7y2 that looked at yields vs. land use, irrigation water use, energy use, soil loss, and climate impact for the Corn, Cotton, Soybeans and Wheat grown in the USA during the 20 year period from 1987-2007 With regard to Yield Per Irrigated Acre vs. Irrigation Water Applied Per Acre during the period 1987-2007 the authors found: 1) Corn Yields Per Irrigated Acre increased about 24% while Irrigation Water Applied Per Acre decreased about 11% http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae78/18R-C/corn.jpg 2) Cotton Yields Per Irrigated Acre increased about 69% while Irrigation Water Applied Per Acre decreased about 30% http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae78/18R-C/cotton.jpg 3) Soybean Yields Per Irrigated Acre increased about 23% while Irrigation Water Applied Per Acre decreased about 4% http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae78/18R-C/soybean.jpg 4) Wheat Yields Per Irrigated Acre increased about 11% while Irrigation Water Applied Per Acre increased about 10% http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae78/18R-C/wheat.jpg Thus with the exception of wheat, these data show the biotech and industrialized ag industry has an excellent track record of substantially increasing the yields of irrigated crops while at the same time substantially decreasing water usage. The failure in wheat could be due to the fact that industry has not come out with much biotech wheat to date. Paul Cherubini El Dorado, Calif.
