Food 5.0 by Robert D. Saik

Author:Robert D. Saik
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2019-07-12T16:28:58+00:00

Linear Versus Exponential Growth

I did not have my first Big Mac until I was sixteen. My first rock concert, pathetically, was the Bay City Rollers. A thirty-mile trip to the next big town to have Chinese food was a big deal when I was growing up. My high school graduating class boasted eighteen students. I grew up in a linear world where thirty paces were thirty paces.

Today we live in an exponential world where the first pace is one step, the second is two steps, the third pace is four steps, and by the time you have taken thirty exponential paces, you have circled earth twenty-six times. That, my friends, is the exponential world we live in today.

In the early stages, exponential growth is slow and sublinear even dipping into the negative, but at some point, it turns upwards and keeps on moving in a forward and upward trajectory—exponential growth looks like a hockey stick.

Look at smartphones. When smartphones were introduced in the early 2000s, very few people had them. By 2019, they’re everywhere. That’s exponential growth.

Newer agricultural technologies, such as genetic engineering, are also experiencing exponential growth. For example, when herbicide-tolerant corn and canola came out, few farmers tried it, but those who did had great crops. Other farmers saw their results and tried it the following year. The year after that, more farmers tried it and today, most farmers growing corn, soybeans, cotton, and canola are using genetic engineering technology. Bt brinjal (eggplant) is working so well at decreasing pesticide use and increasing yields that seeds are being smuggled from Bangladesh into India, where it is illegal to plant GMO seed. The adoption will be exponential, just like Bt cotton.

Exponential growth explains why technology hits and gets adopted so fast. We have the ability to build, and then share, technology that is beneficial. When something hits the farming community and works, the information spreads quickly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.