Unlike a seemingly growing portion of the population I remain a firm believer in science.
It’s not that every discovery made by science is ultimately proven safe, that is what happens as the research data grows, discoveries are made which can change the initial conclusions, but without science the world will stagnate, and risks regressing into what would be a modern dark ages.
The naysayers of science in favour of any other perceived source of human advancement is viewed from this perspective as one of the biggest threats to our future as a species.
There are of course many problems we face as a species, most created by ourselves, often because we have ignored a combination of best science and some common sense.
To overcome the problems though, we will need more science.
That is particularly true when it comes to food production.
We cannot afford to regress in terms of food production considering there is not even a hint that the world is ready to entertain any sort of plan to limit population growth.
As it stands some will suggest there are too many mouths to feed given the number of people who go to bed hungry, if not starving in our world. Sadly, that is not a food shortage problem.
It is instead a problem of wealth distribution with the poorest people and poorest countries unable to afford food while many others spends thousands on wristwatches, handbags and shoes.
But, that is another issue.
In terms of science it is always fascinating to see where it might take us.
Take the hog sector, where dealing with waste is an issue, in particular the phosphorus in manure.
Solugen is a Quebec new company with a system that is utilizing some exciting science and technology to come at the problem. The system they are testing extracts 85 percent of phosphorus found in pig slurry, which in itself is a pretty big step in addressing a perceived issue with large scale hog production.
But, the same process also extracts 84 percent of the water from slurry leaving it so pure it can be drank.
No one is going to jump on bottled recycled water from pig manure, but there is every possibility of it being put back through the barn to other pigs.
Given that water will become a key resource, even more so than it is today, this too is exciting science.
It is an advancement like this that shows just what science may come up with in terms of helping farmers continuing to produce food in the future using technologies that are better for the world as a whole. It is why science must be promoted, our future demands it.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week.
