|
Study by UK Economist Documents Major Reductions in Greenhouse Gas
Emissions, Fuel and Pesticide Use as Biotech Crops Facilitate Shift to
Conservation Tillage
WASHINGTON, March 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Biotech crops have
produced a decade of improvements in yield and net farm income for grain,
oilseed and cotton farmers. Now, according to a peer-reviewed study on the
crops' global economic and environmental impact, the benefits are "clear" --
especially reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
In 2005, herbicide-tolerant biotech crops planted using conservation tillage
practices helped to retain carbon in the soil. Insect-resistant crops
dramatically reduced the need for spraying, while also significantly
reducing farm fuel usage. All told, biotech crops, planted during their 10th
year of use on 87 million hectares (215 million acres) by 8.5 million
farmers, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 9 billion kg. (8.9 million
tons). That's the equivalent to removing nearly 4 million family cars from
the road for an entire year, according to study author Graham Brookes,
director of PG Economics Limited of Dorchester, United Kingdom.
Biotech Crops and the Green Era "Simply put, biotech crops have changed the
way people farm," Brookes said. "Their environmental performance during the
first decade of use shows the important role the technology is playing both
now and in the future in helping global agriculture reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions."
According to Brookes, countries such as the United States, Canada and
Argentina have led the way toward these environmental benefits by utilizing
herbicide-tolerant crops to switch to no- and low-till crop production.
There and elsewhere, insect-resistant biotech crops also have reduced
sprayings. It all adds up to less tillage and reduced field operations, he
said. Brookes' study estimates that since their commercialization in 1996,
biotech crops have saved farmers 1,679 million liters (441 million gallons)
of fuel through reduced field operations -- eliminating 4,613 million kg. of
carbon dioxide emissions.
Disturbing the soil with conventional tillage releases carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere. No- and low-tillage cropping systems that use biotech
herbicide-tolerant varieties, Brookes said, leave more plant residue on the
soil's surface, sequestering the carbon and contributing to soil and water
conservation.
In Argentina alone, the study estimates that herbicide-tolerant varieties
helped to increase no-till soybean plantings by 157 percent, from 5.9
million hectares in 1996 to 15.2 million hectares in 2005 -- reducing
carbon dioxide emissions by 20,988 million kg.
Worldwide, use of biotech crops decreased the environmental impact of crop
production associated with pesticide use by more than 15 percent as
calculated using Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) methodology, according
to the study. Since 1996, herbicide tolerant and insect-resistant biotech
crops reduced pesticide sprayings by 224 million kg. (500 million pounds) of
active ingredient -- a 6.9 percent reduction worldwide. That reduction is
equivalent to about 35 percent of the annual volume of active ingredient
applied to arable crops in the European Union.
$5 Billion Benefit to 2005 Net Farm Income
According to Brookes' estimates, biotech crops contributed $5 billion in net
farm-level economic benefit to farmers -- or $5.6 billion if the additional
income arising from a second crop of soybean in Argentina is
included. Combining biotech insect-resistant and herbicide-tolerant traits
in corn has boosted farm income by more than $3.1 billion since the traits'
introductions, Brookes noted.
The largest gains in farm income have come from biotech soybean and largely
from cost savings. In 2005, herbicide-tolerant soybean generated $2.84
billion additional income -- adding about 7 percent to the value of the crop
in biotech soybean growing countries.
Brookes summarized that the economic and environmental benefits of biotech
crops are fairly evenly divided between farmers in developed and developing
countries. In 2005, farmers in developing countries captured 55 percent of
the additional net farm income generated by biotech crops globally. Over the
1996-2005 period, farmers in developing countries accrued 48 percent of the
environmental benefits, primarily from reduced crop protection product
usage.
The study's documentation of biotech crops' increased productivity and
reduced environmental impact comes at a good time. "We are constantly being
asked if North America can produce enough corn to meet food, fuel and export
needs," said U.S. Grains Council Chairman Vic Miller, an Iowa corn producer.
"The answer is yes, especially with the help of biotechnology.
This study goes a long way toward documenting the production increases
achieved with biotech crops. And greater yields mean more corn for ethanol,
which -- unlike fossil fuels -- removes carbon dioxide from the air each
time a new corn plant sprouts. Reduced environmental impact through biotech
crop use is becoming an important selling point as we communicate with our
grain trading partners."
According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech
Applications (ISAAA), more than half of the world's arable land (776 million
hectares/1.9 billion acres) lies in 22 countries now approved for planting
biotech crops. By 2015, ISAAA forecasts biotech crops will be under
cultivation in 40 countries with at least 20 million farmers planting 200
million acres annually.
"Projecting forward, the environmental gains made possible with biotech
crops have the potential to compound quite dramatically as the technology is
available to more farmers worldwide. These are environmental benefits that
if overlooked in the past will not be in the future," Brookes concluded.
Brookes' study, "GM
Crops: The First 10 Years -- Global Socio-economic and Environmental
Impacts," was commissioned by Monsanto and was published in the Jan. 17,
2007 issue of AgBioFourm, a peer-reviewed journal on economics and
biotechnology. The complete study is available on the U.S. Grains Council
website, http://www.grains.org , and the
ISAAA website, http://www.isaaa.org .
PG Economics Limited is a specialist provider of advisory and consultancy
services to agriculture and other natural-resource-based industries. Based
in Dorchester, United Kingdom, its specializations are plant biotechnology,
agricultural production systems, agricultural markets and policy. The
company's clients come from both the public and private sector and include
the United Kingdom, the European Commission, food manufacturers and leading
global agricultural input suppliers.
The U.S. Grains Council is a private, non-profit partnership of farmers and
agribusinesses committed to building and expanding international markets for
U.S. barley, corn, grain sorghum and their products. The
Council is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has 10 international
offices that oversee programs in more than 50 countries. The Council
receives support from private industry members, including state checkoffs,
agribusinesses, state entities and others and triggers federal matching
funds from the USDA resulting in a combined program value of more than $25
million.
SOURCE U.S. Grains Council
|
|
AgBioForum
Volume 9 // Number 3 // 2007
Global
impact of biotech crops: socio-economic and environmental effects in the
first ten years of commercial use.
Executive Summary and Conclusions
|
