Jennifer,
During my trawls of the www I came across the following blog which purports to describe a future where Denmark has transformed its agriculture and land use in through large scale adaptation of molecular pharming .
The blog is at
http://pruned.blogspot.com/2006/09/pharmland.html
and if you scroll down to the bottom, you’ll see
“For more on this wondrously pragmatic utopia, view the presentation
slideshow” and the slideshow link,
http://www.nord-web.dk/pharmland_2.htm
Takes you to a new website where you can view a “documentary” movie
online presented by a fictitious Minister of Health and Agriculture at
http://www.nord-web.dk/pharmland_movie.htm
This future scenario is not that outlandish since Denmark has got a large biotech industry (Novo Nordisk is the major producer of recombinant insulin) and the Danish Government has recently adopted coexistence laws which will allow for growing GM and non-GM side by side.
Interesting view of a possible future for Denmark and possibly Tasmania which is growing pharmaceutical crops already (poppies) and are exempting poppies from its GM Crops ban.
Roger
Roger Kalla, PhD
Director Korn Technologies
www.korntechnologies.com
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
The scenario described on nord-web is a bit fanciful on certain points; for instance, it is not clear how pharming will lead to de-urbanization. It is more likely that more influential factors, such as the internet, will allow de-urbanization to occur via ‘telecommuting,’ ‘distance learning,’ etc.
Still, Denmark could benefit substantially from being an early adopter of intensive pharming. The country is not well-suited to the mass production of anonymous commodities, in comparison to Brazil or the US. On the other hand, it has a highly educated work force and a well-developed agricultural infrastructure.
The smaller scale of its farms is also well-suited to pharming, where the value produced ranges upward from $1,000 per acre while crop management requires attention to detail.
It is also less plagued with Greenies than other parts of Europe, resulting in a reduced likelihood that the pharmers’ crops will be destroyed.
“It is also less plagued with Greenies than other parts of Europe,”
Watch out Denmark, I’m your neighbour!
Schiller makes the most amazing statements, I don’t know where from he gets his facts!
Schiller ,there are about 50 000 Greenpeacers in Denmark.
Here’s an intersting comment from Rabobank bank boss, Bert Heemskerk, stating northern hemisphere farm subsidies ‘have to go’ and that this would lead to lead to an inevitable shift in global agricultural production from the northern hemisphere to the south: http://www.farmonline.com.au/news_daily.asp?ag_id=37683 .
Ann,
The Greenies in Denmark aren’t staging destructive raids on farms like they are in Germany and France. Sometimes they show up by the hundreds, destroy a field–and in the latest instance, they offered the farmer 25 euros to pay for the damage.
Also, Denmark has showed that it is willing to use terrorism laws against the Greenies, so that is also very good news for farmers in Denmark who would like to try new things.
Greenpeace may boast of having 50,000 members in Denmark, but in my book, real Greenies use vandalism, intimidation and coercion to achieve their goals. Which means Denmark doesn’t have as many Greenies as you find south of there.
When you travel through Denmark you think “God this place is boring!”
I know I know, you cant judge a book by its cover but…..what is this “wilderness” I didnt see any except in Nyhavn (maybe that was wildness)
Rog,
I quite agree with you on this…. Denmark is too flat with zero wilderness or forests, it’s different in Sweden.
The beer is quite good though and I like Helsingör.
Maybe part of the plan is to introduce genetically engineered redwoods.
Ah rog, you refer to Rule # 7:
Countries often have to destroy their wilderness before they get strict about environmental issues such as protection/restoration.
Kindly note that an unregulated capitalist system is a very effective mechanism for realising that rule.