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Brookes West
Warsaw, 26 April
2005. Early adoption of GM technology in arable
crops would bring clear farm level and environmental benefits for Poland
according to a new report published today.
The report formally
published in the journal Biotechnologica,
shows that the application and use of the GM agronomic traits of herbicide
tolerance to oilseed rape, sugar beet and maize, and insect (Bt) resistance
in maize offers Poland both economic and environmental benefits.
According to Graham
Brookes, one of the authors of the report,
‘Polish arable farmers have the potential to gain more from early
adoption of GM technology than their EU 15 counterparts because they are
starting from a lower average level of technical efficiency and therefore
they will derive greater productivity gains. The GM technology offers scope
for accelerating the process of ‘productivity catch up’ post EU accession,
enabling Polish producers to compete more effectively, and earlier than they
might otherwise have been capable of, if they did not use GM technology’.
Key findings of the
research forecast that adoption of GM technology would annually
result in:
- Between a +10% and +19%
increase in output for crops like oilseed rape (of value for export and as
a raw material for bio-fuels) and sugar beet (of value for export without
subsidy or for use in non food sectors like bio-ethanol);
- An increase in annual
added value for Polish production of the three crops of between +€55
million and +€116 million;
- An increase in farm
(gross margin) income of between €67 million and €123 million.
- The volume of herbicides
applied would fall by between a third and a half and result in a net
reduction in the toxicity level of products applied. Using a measure
of mammalian toxicity, the total level of doses applied would fall by
between 38% and 67%;
- Greater opportunity to
move to low tillage cultivation methods which reduce soil disruption,
erosion and the release of carbon dioxide from ploughing and hence make a
positive contribution to reducing the impact of global warming.
DOWNLOAD PDF
COPY OF THE FULL PAPER - CLICK HERE
Press enquiries
Graham Brookes
Tel: +44 (0)1303 840958
E-mail:
graham.brookes@brookeswest.co.uk
A copy of the paper is
available on
www.pgeconomics.co.uk
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Co-existence
introduction A copy of the report "Genetically
Modified Maize - Pollen Movement and Crop Co-existence" can be
downloaded - click here!
Co-existence of GM and
non-GM crops: current experience and key principles
Co-existence in
North American agriculture: can GM crops be grown with conventional and
organic crops?
GM and non GM arable crops can
co-exist in the EU without problems: says new research paper
Co-existence
of GM and non GM crops in the UK can occur without problems
Co-existence of GM
and non GM crops: economic and market perspectives - PDF format
Co-existence
of GM and non GM crops: case study of maize grown in Spain - PDF format
Co-existence
of GM and non GM crops in the UK can occur without problems - PDF format
EU Commission report on co-existence
EU Paper on GMO's in seeds |
