Some seed companies have argued that transgenic crops are needed to feed the world's hungry. That argument is false today, and will be false for decades. On the contrary, the various practices called "sustainable agriculture" are proved effective in particular and smaller present-day communities. I am convinced, however, that the era of widespread sustainable agriculture will be far in our future, after humans have stopped their growth in numbers and material wants, and after the concomitant replacement of the market-drive out of our economic system. I estimate that this "postgrowth era" is at least a century away. In the absence of growth, sustainability is possible.

At postgrowth time, extinctions will be massive, topsoil will be minimized and toxic, air will be foul, fresh water will be contaminated and in short supply, and many scarce raw materials will be replaced only by the highest level of technology. Our crops will not find environments anything like those to which they were domesticated. That is, the genetic potential of our crops will not be adequate in our "unnatural" environment.

I see genetic engineering/upgrading of our crops as one important way we may achieve sustainability in the degraded environment of the future. Salt- and drought-resistant crops are obvious priorities, and are presently well out-of-reach. Designer crops that produce both food and other valuable, engineered products make a lot of sense. The transgenic crops of today may be like clunky early personal computers, and new releases sometimes pose unacceptable environmental threat, but there is no evidence that there is any sort of Frankenstein's monster (Frankenfood) qualities to these primitive transgenic products and foods; the worse ones will be removed and replaced by better ones. Genetic research can and will do better.

I'm convinced that what genetic researchers discover today will be useful, and perhaps necessary, tools in the hands of our great-, great-grandchildren, perhaps 12 billion of our descendants trying to prosper on a degraded and depleted planet. This research requires altering genes in vitro and putting them into plants to see how the plant is changed. The people of the world should be pleased that much of this important genetic research is carried out, openly, in public teaching and research institutions such as the University of California.

In my opinion, it does no good to point the finger of blame when the course we will travel is largely cast. It should be an exciting, transcendent ride. The above are opinions, not positions. I don't care if I am correct or not, and I have a lot of fun without knowing the truth about much of anything. I advise young people to avoid fixed positions. I'll change these opinions when I understand new, meaningful data.