Session 7
This session dwelled further into the bio business revolution. Much of what was talked about in class was on the issues brought out in reading one. The first focus of the reading and some of our discussion in class was on the need to help farmers in the agricultural sector who are by large stuck in valley opportunities (due to their low value added farming processes ) and through the use of technology transform their businesses into high value added " summit" opportunities. 2 of the most promising ways suggested to increase the earning of such farmers which I believe will yield the highest "bang for the buck" would be the introduction of bio pharming to farmers and attempting to move farmers up the value chain. With respect to the former, the relative infancy of this sector means that the market has not been saturated, hence bio pharming may provide farmers with fantastic profit margins. The Latter proposal is perhaps the most efficient method of improving financial status of farmers, the capital requirements to package goods ( and hence move closer up the chain to the end consumer ) would be minimal compared with the increase in margins that would follow in suite.
In our general discussion in class ( and also in reading 1 ) we also dwelled into how bio technology could be used to solve environmental problems and promote industrial development . Certain technologies that attracted my curiosity, particularly Bio remediation and the usage of plants for extraction of metals. Bioremediation indeed looks to provide innovative solutions to environmental clean up ( of our mess !! ). But as mentioned by proff, there still may be negative side effects from its employment, as seen by the dead fish ,possibly killed by the biofilms used to break up oil slicks in the BP oil rig incident this year.
The usage of plants for mining is a totally mind blowing idea, I initially though it was too good to be through when I read about it tin article one. But as Proff did explain in class. It does work ! I believe if this process could be further enhanced and perfected, it will provide us with a much " greener " alternative to mining the earth for minerals Surely plating plants would have less negative environmental consequences then carving big holes in the ground and polluting eco-systems in the process.
One of the presentations that I found quite interesting was the presentation on biofuels and particularly why the USA has not embraced it.( which is due to oil price falling significantly in the most recent recession ) Sadly this show's that sometimes our free market economy sometime fails to efficiently price in the negative externalities of oil. Furthermore, the global economy and governments adopt a short term view in their policies ( choosing to step down efforts to promote biofuels whenever oil price dropped from it's highs ) which results in overly sluggish progress in adopting alternative, greener forms of energy. In light of this, perhaps something that I wished could have been discussed in greater detail would be : would it even be possible to implement global policy changes such the price of oil could accurately reflect it's negative externalities ?
Lastly, the another topic covered in the presentations was related to Intellectual property for GM crops and how Monsanto's business model is seemingly un-ethical. The real issue behind this debate however is more to do with fundamentals of capitalism then is it to do with Monsanto's business model. In essence, we have to ask, when do we draw the line between being profit driven and the need to be humanitarian ? This is particular relevant to the bio business industry and will be called into question whenever famine arises due to a lack of crops or low yields. Should companies such as Monsanto release their patented GM crops to farmers who are unable to afford it such as in the situation such as Haiti, without any strings attached. A question to ponder about based on this situation is : whether companies involved in similar cases should come up with Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR )guidelines in which they will intervene ( by providing their higher yielding GM crops freely ) to avert famine caused by the lack of crops ? This is particular pertinent in the event of natural disasters in developing countries, such as Pakistan ( 2010 )or Haiti, where many farmers corps have been wiped out and at the same time, they lack the financial means to purchase a seeds for a new harvest.
Overall rating : 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment