Keeping agriculture environmentally sustainable while improving productivity is a growing challenge, and a new report shows that agricultural biotechnology is a key tool in overcoming it.
Biotech crops help growers around the world increase yields, improve crop quality and characteristics and adopt sustainable farming practices such as conservation tillage – all vital to keeping up with the world’s growing demand for food, feed, fuel and fiber.
The booklet “Facilitating Conservation Farming Practices and Enhancing Environmental Sustainability with Agricultural Biotechnology” was developed by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) to dig deep into the data surrounding the adoption of biotech crops. Among many important statistics, the document describes:
The new document is the latest in a vast library created by CTIC throughout its 25-year history as a repository for information on conservation farming practices.
“As crops emerge across the country, this is a great time to consider what it will take to feed the earth’s growing population while safeguarding our natural resources,” says Karen Scanlon, executive director of CTIC in West Lafayette, IN. “What we found in developing this report is that agricultural biotechnology – by allowing growers to reduce tillage and reduce their use of crop protection products – offers significant improvements in soil, water and air quality. Biotech crops can help farmers meet the projected demand of 9 billion mouths to feed while also helping the world address issues like reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and improving water quality.”
The United Soybean Board (USB) funded the paper, which updates a document prepared by CTIC in 2003. Collecting data from researchers around the world in a single, concise, readable document provides growers with important talking points about the benefits of their management choices, says Rich Joost, director of production research for USB in Chesterfield, MO. That insight can help other stakeholders understand the dramatic improvements in environmental sustainability and productivity over the past several years.
David Wilson, a farmer from Lincoln, AL, USB’s sustainability committee chair, puts it in personal terms. “We started no-tilling in 1974, and we did it because the savings in fuel and the savings of horsepower per acre,” he notes, pointing out that the current focus on greenhouse gases highlights an unforeseen benefit of those reductions. “We figure we’re saving approximately 4 gal. of fuel/acre, and that amounts to about 22 lbs./gal. of carbon that’s not put into the air.”
People both on and off the farm often overlook the environmental benefits of biotech, adds USB director Mike Thede, a grower from Palmer, NE. “Biotechnology has increased the ability of the nation’s fields to be able to continue to produce on a high level, and has reduced the amount of environmentally negative impacts,” he points out. The new document delivers data to support the point, as well as a detailed list of academic references.
The paper, which was reviewed by a multi-disciplinary panel of experts, is available online at http://www.ctic.org/BiotechSustainability or in hard copy by calling CTIC at 765-494-9555. The new document complements other elements of USB’s extensive online library of information on agricultural biotechnology, which is accessible at http://www.unitedsoybean.org/programs/biotechnology.aspx.