EPIBuilding a Sustainable Future
Tom Philpott on Grist, ‘The ‘food bubble’ is bursting, says Lester Brown, and biotech won’t save us’
January 12, 2011

"For years -- even decades -- Earth Policy Institute president and Grist contributor Lester Brown has issued Cassandra-like warnings about the global food system. His argument goes something like this: Global grain demand keeps rising, pushed up by population growth and the switch to more meat-heavy diets; but grain production can only rise so much, constrained by limited water and other resources. So, a food crisis is inevitable...Coming from a man who's been studying agricultural productivity since the 1960s, and who was in fact a booster of the original "Green Revolution" -- the push by U.S. policymakers and foundations to prod farmers in the global south to use "modern" agriculture technologies such as hybrid seeds, industrial fertilizers and pesticides, and heavy irrigation -- this is a significant statement," writes Tom Philpott, senior food and agriculture writer on Grist.org in a release titled 'The ‘food bubble’ is bursting, says Lester Brown, and biotech won’t save us.' Posted January 12, 2011.