Manfred Kern - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Manfred Kern
Food security has top priority today and in future. There is no discussion about the fact that ev... more Food security has top priority today and in future. There is no discussion about the fact that everybody must eat. Nevertheless, this fundamental need was globally addressed by the United Nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, Article 25: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary services …," (United Nations, 1948). At the beginning of the Third Millennium, we all know that this human right is not being realized worldwide.
Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science, 2002
Plants and plant crops have always been, and will continue to be, of vital importance for humanki... more Plants and plant crops have always been, and will continue to be, of vital importance for humankind. They are an essential source of food, feed, raw materials, energy and pleasure. One of the main concerns in agriculture has always been to improve the quality of seed. Today, at the beginning of the 3rd Millennium, agriculture is confronted with a wide range of complex challenges. With diminishing availability of farming land, climatic changes and the threat of declining water resources, the task is to meet the growing demand for food, feed, fibre, fuel, industrial products and products based on ‘functional’ plants. Future‐oriented, knowledge‐based and added‐value agriculture will have to become reality. This will mean reduced use and redisposition of resources – in other words, ‘Do more with less!’ Within this context, the possibilities offered by efficiency developments in conventional seed breeding, supported by gene technology and plant genomic research, will improve the prospect...
Pest Management Science, 2012
BACKGROUND: A major global challenge is to provide agricultural production systems that are able ... more BACKGROUND: A major global challenge is to provide agricultural production systems that are able to sustain growing demands for food, feed, fibre and renewable raw materials without exacerbating climate change. Detailed and reliable data on the CO 2 balance of different agricultural management activities and inputs as a basis to quantify carbon footprints of agriculture are still lacking. This study aims to fill this gap further by quantifying the net balance of emitted and assimilated CO 2 due to the application of crop protection treatments on the farm, and by assessing their partial contribution to GHG emissions and mitigation in agriculture. The study focuses on key agricultural crops including wheat, corn, oilseeds and sugar crops. RESULTS: The final CO 2 balance, considering GHG emissions due to on-farm CPP treatment in comparison with CO 2 storage in additional biomass, CO 2 protected with respect to agrotechnical inputs and land inputs and CO 2 saved with respect to associated global land use changes, is positive and may reach multiples of up to nearly 2000. CONCLUSION: The results highlight the importance of the positive yield effects of the CPP programme applications on the farm, resulting in additional assimilated biomass at the farm level and less land use changes at the global level, and thus lower pressure on environmentally important indicators of overall agricultural sustainability.
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 2002
In the first 30 years of the 3rd millennium, the global demand for food will double. In order to ... more In the first 30 years of the 3rd millennium, the global demand for food will double. In order to produce enough food and to ensure good harvests, farmers everywhere in the world need a reliable source of good-quality seed. Access to improved seeds, adapted to local conditions, will be the key to achieving sustained intensification of food production. Crop improvement by means of biotechnology has now become a reality. The "globalisation of biotechnology" is underway. Although the potential of biotechnology is now quite well known, and indeed was advocated in Agenda 21 as early as 1992, progress in the development, realization and utilization of genetically modified crops in many developing countries is far too slow. By reorganizing plant DNA resources, it will be possible to improve the carrying capacity of the Earth. Innovative and vigorous forms of public-private collaboration are required if the benefits of modern biotechnology are to be brought to all of the world's people; incentives are needed to encourage commercial research companies to share with the public sector more of their capacity for innovation. "Making New Technologies Work for Human Development" [1] will be a sustainable guideline for responsible people shaping our future, because: "Mankind is at the Crossroads".
Food security has top priority today and in future. There is no discussion about the fact that ev... more Food security has top priority today and in future. There is no discussion about the fact that everybody must eat. Nevertheless, this fundamental need was globally addressed by the United Nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, Article 25: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary services …," (United Nations, 1948). At the beginning of the Third Millennium, we all know that this human right is not being realized worldwide.
Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science, 2002
Plants and plant crops have always been, and will continue to be, of vital importance for humanki... more Plants and plant crops have always been, and will continue to be, of vital importance for humankind. They are an essential source of food, feed, raw materials, energy and pleasure. One of the main concerns in agriculture has always been to improve the quality of seed. Today, at the beginning of the 3rd Millennium, agriculture is confronted with a wide range of complex challenges. With diminishing availability of farming land, climatic changes and the threat of declining water resources, the task is to meet the growing demand for food, feed, fibre, fuel, industrial products and products based on ‘functional’ plants. Future‐oriented, knowledge‐based and added‐value agriculture will have to become reality. This will mean reduced use and redisposition of resources – in other words, ‘Do more with less!’ Within this context, the possibilities offered by efficiency developments in conventional seed breeding, supported by gene technology and plant genomic research, will improve the prospect...
Pest Management Science, 2012
BACKGROUND: A major global challenge is to provide agricultural production systems that are able ... more BACKGROUND: A major global challenge is to provide agricultural production systems that are able to sustain growing demands for food, feed, fibre and renewable raw materials without exacerbating climate change. Detailed and reliable data on the CO 2 balance of different agricultural management activities and inputs as a basis to quantify carbon footprints of agriculture are still lacking. This study aims to fill this gap further by quantifying the net balance of emitted and assimilated CO 2 due to the application of crop protection treatments on the farm, and by assessing their partial contribution to GHG emissions and mitigation in agriculture. The study focuses on key agricultural crops including wheat, corn, oilseeds and sugar crops. RESULTS: The final CO 2 balance, considering GHG emissions due to on-farm CPP treatment in comparison with CO 2 storage in additional biomass, CO 2 protected with respect to agrotechnical inputs and land inputs and CO 2 saved with respect to associated global land use changes, is positive and may reach multiples of up to nearly 2000. CONCLUSION: The results highlight the importance of the positive yield effects of the CPP programme applications on the farm, resulting in additional assimilated biomass at the farm level and less land use changes at the global level, and thus lower pressure on environmentally important indicators of overall agricultural sustainability.
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 2002
In the first 30 years of the 3rd millennium, the global demand for food will double. In order to ... more In the first 30 years of the 3rd millennium, the global demand for food will double. In order to produce enough food and to ensure good harvests, farmers everywhere in the world need a reliable source of good-quality seed. Access to improved seeds, adapted to local conditions, will be the key to achieving sustained intensification of food production. Crop improvement by means of biotechnology has now become a reality. The "globalisation of biotechnology" is underway. Although the potential of biotechnology is now quite well known, and indeed was advocated in Agenda 21 as early as 1992, progress in the development, realization and utilization of genetically modified crops in many developing countries is far too slow. By reorganizing plant DNA resources, it will be possible to improve the carrying capacity of the Earth. Innovative and vigorous forms of public-private collaboration are required if the benefits of modern biotechnology are to be brought to all of the world's people; incentives are needed to encourage commercial research companies to share with the public sector more of their capacity for innovation. "Making New Technologies Work for Human Development" [1] will be a sustainable guideline for responsible people shaping our future, because: "Mankind is at the Crossroads".