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Dr. Meng Jiang looked with pride over the orderly rows of the wide test field. The dark leaves spread out in the sunlight close to black in colour with a warm olive undertone. Climbing down from the balcony of the experimental crop station he went out among the plants. They stood well above his head at some two meters in height, in another week or two frosts would come then it would be time to harvest.
It had been so much work to get to this stage. The computer modeling of all the enzymes, peptides, and other molecules involved in photosynthesis alone had been a massive project. After all that and the engineering of the black chloroplast they needed to breed a plant that would take full advantage of the increase in available energy. That had taken a full five years of work, more than anyone had anticipated. But now here it was and it was all worth it.
Not a mere few percent increase in yield, but a full eight fold increase; thirty-two tons of soybeans per hectare where ordinary plants would only produce four. He looked under the leaves counting the dark full pods. This represented a revolution, oil for industry, feed for animals, and food for humans. The prospect for freeing China from any dependence upon mineral oil alone would make this project worth the massive Euro investment.
And for him? A modest reward considering the gift this would be to China and all the world. Soon it would be time to move on to new crops, maize, rice, wheat, and perhaps cotton as well. Neither Dr. Jiang nor anyone else at the experimental crop station had noticed that a few plants from previous plantings had escaped down a local stream where they grew even in the face of competition unlike ordinary soy...
It had been so much work to get to this stage. The computer modeling of all the enzymes, peptides, and other molecules involved in photosynthesis alone had been a massive project. After all that and the engineering of the black chloroplast they needed to breed a plant that would take full advantage of the increase in available energy. That had taken a full five years of work, more than anyone had anticipated. But now here it was and it was all worth it.
Not a mere few percent increase in yield, but a full eight fold increase; thirty-two tons of soybeans per hectare where ordinary plants would only produce four. He looked under the leaves counting the dark full pods. This represented a revolution, oil for industry, feed for animals, and food for humans. The prospect for freeing China from any dependence upon mineral oil alone would make this project worth the massive Euro investment.
And for him? A modest reward considering the gift this would be to China and all the world. Soon it would be time to move on to new crops, maize, rice, wheat, and perhaps cotton as well. Neither Dr. Jiang nor anyone else at the experimental crop station had noticed that a few plants from previous plantings had escaped down a local stream where they grew even in the face of competition unlike ordinary soy...