NELSON - New Zealand's agricultural industry will sink to the level of peasant farming if more energy is not put into research and development and attracting and educating young people, says senior Lincoln University lecturer Jon Hickford.
"Where are the young people in this room?" he asked the predominantly grey-haired members of the Nelson branch of Federated Farmers at their annual general meeting.
"This is the industry's single major problem."
Dr Hickford and Green MP Ian Ewen-Street presented two sides of a debate over biotechnology to farmers.
While Mr Ewen-Street, a Marlborough organic sheep and beef farmer, endorsed a national move towards organic farming and away from making any firm move towards genetic engineering of crops and animals, Dr Hickford said farmers had to follow all options while investing in the future of their industry.
Dr Hickford said public misconceptions about genetic engineering had painted researchers as evil scientists, "but nature moves genes between species all the time."
He said the scientific selection and breeding of animals naturally resistant to diseases such as footrot was an example of gene technology which could save the agricultural industry millions of dollars.
Mr Ewen-Street said New Zealand farmers would permanently damage the country's clean green image and consign themselves to trading in an international commodity market if they opened the door to gene technology.
He said New Zealanders should wait "at least five years" before deciding whether farmers should follow the genetic engineering path.
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