GM biotechnology makes significant contributions to crop production and the environment
Research by PG Economics Limited, a United Kingdom advisory and consultancy firm, found that genetically modified (GM) crops have increased global food, feed and fibre production by nearly 1 billion tonnes (1996-2020). At the same time, the technology helped farmers reduce the environmental footprint associated with their crop protection practices by over 17 percent.
The research findings were profiled in three peer-reviewed papers in GM Crops and Food journal, covering the environmental impact associated with pesticide use; the environmental impact associated with carbon emissions, and the economic impact on farm income. They are freely available as Open Access papers. They can also be found in an overall report entitled “GM crops: global socio-economic and environmental impacts 1996-2020”.
The research was largely conducted with a detailed literature review, and analyzed for pesticide use, carbon emission reduction, and farm income impact. PG Economics summarized the highlights of the three peer-reviewed papers:
Crop biotechnology has contributed to global food security and reduced pressure to use new land in agriculture
GM crop technology has increased yields through improved control of pests and weeds. For example, insect resistant (IR) crop technology used in cotton and maize has, between 1996 to 2020 across all users of this technology, increased yields by an average of 17.7 percent for IR maize and 14.5 percent for IR cotton relative to conventional production systems. Farmers who grow IR soybeans commercially in South America have seen an average 9.3 percent increase in yields since 2013.
Over 25 years of widespread use, crop biotechnology has been responsible for the additional global production of 330 million tonnes of soybeans, 595 million tonnes of maize, 37 million tonnes of cotton lint, 15.8 million tonnes of canola and 1.9 million tonnes of sugar beet.
GM crops allow farmers to grow more without needing to use additional land. For example, if crop biotechnology had not been available to farmers in 2020, maintaining global production levels that year would have required the planting of an additional 11.6 million hectares (ha) of soybeans, 8.5 million ha of maize, 2.8 million ha of cotton and 0.5 million ha of canola. This 23.4 million ha total (57.82 million acre) is equivalent to the combined agricultural area of Philippines and Vietnam.
Crop biotechnology has reduced agriculture’s environmental impact
Crop biotechnology has significantly reduced agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions by helping farmers adopt more sustainable practices such as reduced tillage, which decreases the burning of fossil fuels and retains more carbon in the soil. Had GM crops not been grown in 2020, for example, an additional 23.6 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide would have been emitted into the atmosphere, which is the equivalent of adding 15.6 million cars to the roads.
From 1996 to 2020, crop biotechnology reduced the application of crop protection products by 748.6 million kilograms, a global reduction of 7.2 percent on the area planted to GM crops. This is equal to 1.5 times China’s total annual crop protection product use. As a result, farmers who grow GM crops have reduced the environmental impact associated with their crop protection practices by 17.3 percent.
Crop biotechnology delivers an excellent return on investment for the farmers using the technology
Over the 1996-2020 period, farmers in developing countries received $5.22 as extra income for each extra dollar invested in GM crop seeds, whereas farmers in developed countries received $3 as extra income for each extra dollar invested in GM crop seeds. The average return across all GM crop growers represents $3.76 in extra income for each extra dollar invested over the 1996-2020 period.
The net farm level economic benefit was just under $18.8 billion in 2020, equal to an average increase in income of $41.70/ac ($103/hectare). From 1996 to 2020, the net global farm income benefit was $261.3 billion, equal to an average increase in income of $45.34/ac ($112/ha). In Canada, the average farm income increase from growing herbicide tolerant canola was $23.49/ac ($58.01/ha).
The analysis is available on open access in the journal GM crops and food. The author acknowledges that funding towards the researching of this paper was provided by Bayer Crop Science.
Brookes, G. (2022). Genetically Modified (GM) Crop Use 1996–2020: Environmental Impacts Associated with Pesticide Use Change. GM Crops & Food, 13(1), 262–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2022.2118497
Brookes, G. (2022). Genetically Modified (GM) Crop Use 1996–2020: Impacts on Carbon Emissions. GM Crops & Food, 13(1), 242–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2022.2118495
Graham Brookes (2022) Farm income and production impacts from the use of genetically modified (GM) crop technology 1996-2020, GM Crops & Food, 13:1, 171-195 OPEN ACCESS: https://doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2022.2105626
GM crops: global socio-economic and environmental impacts 1996-2020 Full Report https://pgeconomics.co.uk/pdf/Globalimpactbiotechcropsfinalreportoctober2022(1).pdf
