With some breakthroughs, such as biological nitrogen fixation, the side-effects appear to be unreserved beneficial. In this technique, the most notable result would be the altered balance of nitrogen in the post-harvest soils. With most grains, the post-harvest soil is left depleted of its reserves of nitrogen, thus reducing fertility and forcing the rotation of crops or the abandonment of the land. The use of nitrogen-fixing strains, however, would reduce or eliminate such unproductive spells and leave the ground no less fertile than it was before sowing. Other such promising technologies, however, might have less predictable or less beneficial side-effects.
Doubts linger as to the possible adverse effects of releasing novel organisms into the environment.
In such areas, wind and water erosion could cause extensive crop damage and lead to irreversible soil degradation. While the scientific community walks carefully on an unsteady tightrope, with the prospect of the drastic consequences of hasty commercialization, the UNEP report makes a case for urgent action. Sustainable development occurs only when food supply not only matches population growth but leaves the productive capacity of the land free for continued growth and development. New technologies must be able to preserve the soils' life-giving fertility, while still giving the production yields needed in a world of burgeoning populations. The challenge confronting development planners, the report claims, is not to have blind faith in the progress of science but to channel their resources into bringing the new technologies from the laboratories into the grain fields at the earliest possible moment.