Under certain environmental conditions in the tropics, charcoal rot can decimate young soybean plants. If the molecular and biochemical steps in disease development were characterized, scientists could determine not only which steps are susceptible to control measures, but what measures would be successful in interrupting disease development. They could develop specific, targeted strategies to block critical interactions and prevent seedling rot. These strategies might employ natural disease suppressive agents in crops interplanted or rotated with soybeans, incorporate specific genes for rot resistance, enhance soybean's natural defense mechanisms, or involve altered cultural conditions and planting dates. Sustainable agriculture provides an appropriate context for developing biotechnology.
Pest control is only one area in which biotechnology is on the wrong path.
Biotechnology development in general is headed in the wrong direction. We need instead to move in the opposite direction, toward the readaptation of agriculture to the complexity of nature and the requirements of healthy human beings and healthy human communities. Genetic engineering techniques could prove useful for analyzing and understanding the complex and interwoven ecological and biological processes that make agriculture possible. Yet its proponents circumscribe its potential by using it to design products that extend a nonsustainable, nonecological agricultural system. The development of biotechnology should be shaped within the context of sustainable agricultural systems, ecologically based systems that reflect the goals of long-term economic viability, productivity, and natural resource stability.