International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD)

This summary was approved in detail by the Governments attending the IAASTD Intergovernmental Plenary in Johannesburg, South Africa (7-11 April 2008).

May 8th 2011 ~ "Why it is that an industrialized system, deeply dependent on fossil fuels and chemical treatments, is promoted as viable, while a much less damaging one is rubbished and condemned as unfit for purpose?"

The Prince of Wales, among some of the best known names in food sustainablilty, made an impressive speech at last week's Future of Food Conference in Washington DC. The video can be watched here - and much of it can be read as a transcript here. Extract:
"Having myself tried to farm as sustainably as possible for some twenty-six years in England, which is not as long as other people here I know, I certainly know of plenty of current evidence that adopting an approach which mirrors the miraculous ingenuity of Nature can produce surprisingly high yields of a wide range of vegetables, arable crops, beef, lamb and milk. And yet we are told ceaselessly that sustainable or organic agriculture cannot feed the world. I find this claim very hard to understand. Especially when you consider the findings of an impeccably well-researched International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), conducted in 2008 by the U.N....report drew on evidence from more than 400 scientists worldwide and concluded that small-scale, family-based farming systems, adopting so-called agro-ecological approaches, were among the most productive systems in developing countries... for some strange reason, the conclusions of this exhaustive report seem to have vanished without trace. " Read in full

August 13 2009 ~"Never before has it been more important for the world to generate and use agricultural knowledge, science and technology"

Under the Directorship of Professor Bob Watson, the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) co-sponsored by the FAO, GEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, the World Bank and WHO appears to be a genuine and rigorous attempt to examine the role of agricultural knowledge, science and technology (AKST) "in reducing hunger and poverty, improving rural livelihoods and facilitating environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development". Its latest publication (Agriculture at a Crossroads) seems even-handed and cool in its examination of the part to be played by varous forms of genetic modification. However, an extract from the IAASTD Synthesis Report Executive Summary warns that: ".. instruments such as patents may drive up costs, restrict experimentation by the individual farmer or public researcher while also potentially undermining local practices that enhance food security and economic sustainability..."

August 13 2009 ~ "Farmers face new liabilities" says IAASTD of GM patents

The same Executive Summary takes very seriously the threat to neighbouring organic farmers, and conventional farmers who "may become liable to GM seed producers if transgenes are detected in their crops..."
Monday's statement from Hilary Benn that a 'Radical rethink' is needed on food supply included the sentence that
"If GM can make a contribution then we have a choice as a society about whether to make use of that technology..."
While not a statement of policy, this has been seized upon by some journalists (notably in the Mirror with its predictable reference to 'Frankenstein Food'.) It would be foolish to deny that genetic modification has the potential for benign uses as the IAASTD acknowledges - but many are nevertheless concerned by the power now resting in the hands of the biggest agrichemical companies.