In earlier posts, I have mentioned the lead China is taking in agricultural research, leaving Canadian institutions such as the University of Guelph and the research branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in the dust.
I have mentioned that the Chinese are embracing genetic modifications to find solutions to challenges such as drought, soil salinity, diseases and to increase yields and the nutritional quality of crops. We in the Western world are stuck with a cumbersome patent system, lack of funding for government-run or government-grant research and foolish impediments to the commercialization of genetically-modified crops, livestock and poultry.
What's wrong with our system?
Why are the Chinese emerging so rapidly?
This TED talk by Eric Li may stimulate you, as it did me, to wonder what lies ahead.
