We wouldn't think of going to our doctor and saying 'Treat me the way doctors treated people in the 19th Century', and yet that's what we're demanding in food production.
Interpretation
We should not cling to outdated practices in food production just as we wouldn’t want outdated medical treatments.
Nina Fedoroff's quote highlights the inconsistency in our expectations of food production versus medical practices. While we eagerly embrace advancements in medicine, we often resist changes in the way our food is produced, clinging to outdated methods that may not serve us well in the modern context. The comparison draws attention to the necessity for innovation and progress in agricultural practices, just as we have seen in healthcare.
In practice
During a seminar on agricultural practices, this quote can be used to emphasize the need for modern methods.
Ever since the dawn of civilization, people have not been content to see events as unconnected and inexplicable. They have craved an understanding of the underlying order in the world. Today we still yearn to know why we are here and where we came from. Humanity's deepest desire for knowledge is justification enough for our continuing quest. And our goal is nothing less than a complete description of the universe we live in.
Science, my lad, has been built upon many errors; but they are errors which it was good to fall into, for they led to the truth.
Everything was so new - the whole idea of going into space was new and daring. There were no textbooks, so we had to write them.
Darwin's theory of evolution is a framework by which we understand the diversity of life on Earth. But there is no equation sitting there in Darwin's 'Origin of Species' that you apply and say, 'What is this species going to look like in 100 years or 1,000 years?' Biology isn't there yet with that kind of predictive precision.
Knowing what your parents have gives you hints of things, but your genome is a totally unique combination of and interchange of DNA from your parents. There is no one else like you genetically.
Vegetation is really controlling what happens...whereas the emphasis in the climate models has always been on the atmosphere.
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