Scientists and NGOs find common ground in ensuring that farmers possess the divers they can use and conserve

In Big or Small?, Future Food travels to the American mid-west to meet Vietnam veteren and farmer, Ron Meyer. When he isn’t farming his 400 acres and 40 cattle, he is battling big agribusiness, which is squeezing small farmers out of the Nebraska Plains. Ron fears that if the small farms disappear, so will the diversity of food and consumer choice along with it. So is industrial farming, with its economies of scale, the only way to feed the world, or can the small-scale farmer offer a feasible alternative?

The 'Doomsday vault' buried in the Arctic ice will provide a backup for the world's seeds. But more needs to be done to safeguard food diversity.

India must document and legally protect the farmers' varieties (FVs) and use them globally as a trade strategy.

Late last month the Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened in Longyearbyen, on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.

Six GM cotton varieties to be cultivated in three states

Between NGOs, expert body on GM crops issue

The good thing about this book is that it makes a clear attempt to scale down the shrill rhetoric of the gm debate. The sharp language and aggressive defence, seen in many publications on GM technology and GM crops, are missing. However, the arguments are

are genetically modified (gm) crops threatening biodiversity? Not really,

Pages