Replies to post #86785 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

This blurb from the Heard on the Street column of today’s
WSJ succinctly states the long-term premise for owning MON.
The Nov 2009 Barron’s article in #msg-44000346 has a longer
(and slightly dated) discussion on the same subject.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575370773890291224.html

With an estimated 9.2 billion mouths to feed by 2050, up from 6.8 billion now, and growing demand from wealthier emerging-market consumers for a high-protein diet, the challenge of feeding the world looks daunting. In theory, that should provide a huge secular boost to agribusiness stocks over the coming years. But it will still require investors to have an appetite for risk.

Growing demand for food isn't in doubt. In 2008, there were already 915 million undernourished people around the globe, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. Prices for basic crops like maize, rice and wheat soared between 2006 and 2008, reaching their highest levels in 30 years and triggering riots in some countries.

…Changes in diet in the developing world also will put pressure on agricultural production. If Chinese consumers were to match the diet of their Korean counterparts, global meat consumption would rise 9%, according to BlackRock, which is launching a new world agriculture fund.

The fund manager believes once such shifts in diet start, they prove irreversible, implying greater grain production to feed livestock, and greater use of technology to boost crop yields. At the same time, planned increases in biofuel production will reduce the amount of land available for food.