Publication Date
1993
Location
New Zealand
Description
A number of major issues raised at the conference, if they are accepted by farmers and grassland scientists, will mean a major realignment of both the philosophy and practice of grassland science. The first of these is future world trade flows and a bleak prognosis for traded livestock products. Jf the developed world accepts that developing nations have to trade in order to develop, and trade in commodities where they have a cost advantage, this suggests that bulk production of livestock commodities will decline ln total. Thus grassland exports will have to concentrate on high value niche markets. This poses the question of what to do with land too marginal for high value production. All this is predicated on a fond hope that trade protectionism might diminish, and that developed countries might treat the trade aspirations of the developing countries with some fairness. The global issues of population growth and climate change also add to the trade quandary. The mid to lower latitudes will be most adversely affected by global warming, and in particular cllmale events will become more extreme, and so push pressured ecosystems over the brink more easily. The mid to lower latitudes are also experiencing the most rapid population growth. Both social and production outputs are expected from animals on grasslands in these zones, and aid projects to "help" the system have generally been a failure. Crops more than animals will be needed to feed these increasing populations, and thus grassland science from the developed world may not be the premier technology in demand. Population growth itself is seen as having been defined by males in affluent developed countries. A contrasting view was that world human population could be stabilised inside 100 years if contraceptive technologies were efficient and available, and if the education of younger women was made a world priority. How then can grassland science change when beset by these large world issues? The biggest challenge at the moment is to produce a vision of why we produce products from grasslands. If we are worried by the energy consumption of our developed economies, then we must develop low energy integrated pasture systems that give high quality products with no downstream pollution effects, a "cradle to grave" design concept. Our experimental methods must now be redesigned to reflect product quality rather than product quantity. We must re-examine why production per hectare is seen as a Holy Grail. In many areas, land prices have been distorted by government policy, and land is overvalued in terms of its productive worth, rather than limiting in amount. We could do better by helping to crash the land prices, rather than developing technologies to run the land harder to make it pay. This XVII Congress taught us that grasslands give much more than production. Using our grasslands are people who are real, and have life goals. Many of our landscapes are beautiful and biodiverse, and our technologies must accommodate these other uses, If we are sure that our technologies don't pollute, and that our products are the highest quality, then we will increasingly become more articulate on the wide range of issues that affect these lands, where we live and work.
Citation
Foran, Barney, "A Time for Change- Issues Arising from the XVII International Grassland Congress Developed World Viewpoint" (1993). IGC Proceedings (1985-2023). 2.
(URL: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1993/session62/2)
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
A Time for Change- Issues Arising from the XVII International Grassland Congress Developed World Viewpoint
New Zealand
A number of major issues raised at the conference, if they are accepted by farmers and grassland scientists, will mean a major realignment of both the philosophy and practice of grassland science. The first of these is future world trade flows and a bleak prognosis for traded livestock products. Jf the developed world accepts that developing nations have to trade in order to develop, and trade in commodities where they have a cost advantage, this suggests that bulk production of livestock commodities will decline ln total. Thus grassland exports will have to concentrate on high value niche markets. This poses the question of what to do with land too marginal for high value production. All this is predicated on a fond hope that trade protectionism might diminish, and that developed countries might treat the trade aspirations of the developing countries with some fairness. The global issues of population growth and climate change also add to the trade quandary. The mid to lower latitudes will be most adversely affected by global warming, and in particular cllmale events will become more extreme, and so push pressured ecosystems over the brink more easily. The mid to lower latitudes are also experiencing the most rapid population growth. Both social and production outputs are expected from animals on grasslands in these zones, and aid projects to "help" the system have generally been a failure. Crops more than animals will be needed to feed these increasing populations, and thus grassland science from the developed world may not be the premier technology in demand. Population growth itself is seen as having been defined by males in affluent developed countries. A contrasting view was that world human population could be stabilised inside 100 years if contraceptive technologies were efficient and available, and if the education of younger women was made a world priority. How then can grassland science change when beset by these large world issues? The biggest challenge at the moment is to produce a vision of why we produce products from grasslands. If we are worried by the energy consumption of our developed economies, then we must develop low energy integrated pasture systems that give high quality products with no downstream pollution effects, a "cradle to grave" design concept. Our experimental methods must now be redesigned to reflect product quality rather than product quantity. We must re-examine why production per hectare is seen as a Holy Grail. In many areas, land prices have been distorted by government policy, and land is overvalued in terms of its productive worth, rather than limiting in amount. We could do better by helping to crash the land prices, rather than developing technologies to run the land harder to make it pay. This XVII Congress taught us that grasslands give much more than production. Using our grasslands are people who are real, and have life goals. Many of our landscapes are beautiful and biodiverse, and our technologies must accommodate these other uses, If we are sure that our technologies don't pollute, and that our products are the highest quality, then we will increasingly become more articulate on the wide range of issues that affect these lands, where we live and work.
