Moloney, who was speaking at the IUFoST World Congress of Food Science and Technology event in the RDS in Dublin on Sunday, said that biotechnology, more commonly known as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), provides a significant solution to the demands that will be placed on agriculture to feed a growing population over the next 50 years.
In the course of his presentation, Moloney, who is originally from Ireland, said the many legalities surrounding the growth of GM crops in Europe are “frustrating” to say the least, adding that the question is not whether we will be able to feed 9.6bn people in the next 50 years but whether we will be “allowed” to do so.
The chief executive outlined that in order to ensure food security by 2066, the world will have to grow the same amount of food that has been cumulatively grown since the world began farming.
GM does provide a very significant portion of the solution to these problems
He also put it another way: “By 2066 we need to grow roughly 70% more food on the same land area we are using today”. That is a huge yield increase and Moloney does not believe this feat is possible without GM.
”A significant portion of the solution”
“GM does provide a very significant portion of the solution to these problems,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“70% more food is a lot of pressure on the agricultural system so we will need technologies that have a substantial, not just incremental improvement, but a transformational improvement, and GM crops have been demonstrated to do that.”
Attitude of Europe
With regard to the attitude of Europe towards GM crops, where their cultivation is restricted in many countries, including Ireland, Moloney says that “Europe is in a very difficult situation right now”.
“The EU has become a net importer of primary agricultural products. Although there is a lot of talk about not using GM, the EU has become the largest importer of GM feed.
“You could not run the pig and poultry industry in Europe without GM soybean,” Moloney continued. “So there is a contradiction there."
Moloney adds that having spoken to European farmers, he has found they would like more widespread use of GM.
“Otherwise it involves chemistry and tillage of the soil. People don’t realise that per tonne of grain right now, Europe uses about 1.7 times as much pesticides as in North America. The use of pesticides has gone down in North America due to the use of GM.”
Science was being trumped by political considerations and that is not good for any club of nations
He says that on his previous visits Brussels he found DG Agriculture and DG Environment "far too political and ideological" and says it was not really making policy decisions based on sound science.
“Science was being trumped by political considerations and that is not good for any club of nations. It is only going to get you into longer-term trouble. Europe could be very successful in dealing with this 70% deficit of food provided some of these biotechnologies can be introduced. If not it will be more use of chemicals, we cannot get rid of chemicals and still hit this target, it just won’t happen.”
Safety
One of the main reasons GM detractors cite their opposition to biotechnology is because they don’t believe it is safe for human consumption.
Many cite a study carried out in 2012 by Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini, which demonstrated the toxic effects of Roundup herbicide and GM maize on rats. Leading health agencies refused to recognise its findings, and the first journal to publish the research eventually retracted it.
The study has recently been re-published in a different journal and in November 2015 Séralini was awarded the 2015 Whistleblower Award by the Federation of German Scientists and the German Section of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms.
Moloney, however, maintains that because of the many years of study that have been done on the safety of GM crops, they are the “safest food products on the market”.
“They have been studied more than any other food product, almost to the level of a pharmaceutical.”
The future
So, can Moloney answer his own question? “Will we be allowed to feed 9.6bn people by 2066?”
“Scientifically, there’s a lot of headwinds but I think it’s doable,” he says. “Having said that it is not doable unless all nations in the world recognise we have a big problem looming and begin to develop policies based much more on science than on ideology or political expediency. We don’t really have the room for that anymore.
“People need to realise we have a big challenge ahead,” Moloney stressed. “It can’t be just business as usual”.
Teagasc, Kerry Group and Science Foundation Ireland are among the sponsors of the the IUFoST conference, which continues in the RDS until Thursday 25 August.
Listen to the full interview with Moloney below
Listen: potential in latest plant breeding techniques if freed from GMO rules
Farmer Writes: GMO debate has to be open, transparent and based on science
European Parliament votes against national GM feed opt-out