Plant Breeding and Biotechnology: Societal Context and the Future of Agriculture

by Denis Murphy

• ISBN13: 9780521530880
• ISBN10: 0521530881
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-09-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This comprehensive survey of modern plant breeding traces its history from the earliest experiments at the dawn of the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century to the present day and the existence of high tech agribusiness. Murphy tells the story from the perspective of a scientist working in this field, offering a rationale and evidence-based insight into its development. Crop improvement is examined from both a scientific and socio-economic perspective and the ways in which these factors interact and impact on agricultural development are discussed, including debates on genetically-modified food. Murphy highlights concerns over the future of plant breeding, as well as potential options to enable us to meet the challenges of feeding the world in the 21st century. This thoroughly interdisciplinary and balanced account serves as an essential resource for everyone involved with plant breeding research, policy and funding, as well as those wishing to engage with current debates.

Table of Contents

Preface

Using this book

Nomenclature and terminology

Abbreviations and glossary

Introduction

The Science of Plant Breeding

Origins of plant breeding

Creating new genetic variation

Modern high-tech breeding

The Societal Context of Plant Breeding

Rise of the public sector: the US pioneers

The public sector in the UK

Breeding goes global: the Green Revolution and beyond

Turmoil and Transition: The legacy of the 1980s

Resurgence of the private sector

Emergence of a new crop improvement paradigm

Decline of the public sector

Reaping the consequences

The Agbiotech Paradigm

Agbiotech: genes and dreams

The future of transgenic crops I. Improving the technology

The future of transgenic crops II. Improving the products

Increasing Global Crop Production: The New Challenges

Feeding the world - fallacies and realities

The roles of management, subsidies, and breeding in crop improvement

Plant Breeding in the Twenty-First Century

The future of international plant breeding

Rebalancing our approach to crop improvement

Where do we go from here?

Conclusions and recommendations

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