寻求农业发展的新思路

EarthSky

Jules Pretty: We want a kind of agriculture that's both productive, produces a lot more. We need it, because there are a billion people hungry today. But, at the same time, we're running out of planet, and we can't afford to be damaging the environmental resources that agriculture largely relies upon.

朱尔斯·皮雷蒂：我们期望高产农业，产量能更高。我们需要实现这个目标，因为如今有10亿人口处于饥饿中。但同时土地即将用尽，我们也不能以破坏农业赖以生存的自然资源为代价。

You are listening to Jules Pretty. He is an agricultural expert at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. He's also an author of a late 2009 Royal Society report on the science of global agriculture.

您正在收听朱尔斯·皮雷蒂的讲述。他是英国埃塞克斯大学的农业专家，在2009年末在“皇家学会”发表了关于全球农业科学的报告。

Jules Pretty: What we're saying is, look at the system first of all, and see how you can manipulate it. If you can get your beetles and spiders to eat all your pests, then great. Do that first. If you can't, then you might have to use a pesticide.

朱尔斯·皮雷蒂：我们的方法是首先审视整个系统，判断是否具备可操控性。如果你能让甲壳虫和蜘蛛吃掉害虫，那很棒，那就首先实现这一步。如果这种方法不行，你再考虑用杀虫剂。

He illustrated the point, with an example from East Africa.

他举了东非的例子来说明这一点。

Jules Pretty: Scientists working on the chemical signals that plants give off realized that if you had the right kind of grasses growing next to your maize fields, then those grasses repelled the pests who would normally come to eat your maize. So if you have a mixed system, and design it very carefully, you don't need to use any pesticides to kill the pests.

朱尔斯·皮雷蒂：科学家研究了植物释放的化学信号，发现如果在玉米地旁边种植某种合适的草类，这些草类植被就能帮你赶走吃玉米的害虫。如果你能用心设计一个混合系统，就根本不需要用任何杀虫剂来杀害虫。

Jules Pretty said that global food production will have to increase by 50 – 100% in the next 30 to 40 years, in order to feed Earth's growing population.

朱尔斯·皮雷蒂说全球粮食产量在未来30-40年要增长50%-100%，以保障全球日益增长人口的食物供给。