GM Crops: The First Ten Years - International Service for the ...

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Table 8. Context of carbon sequestration impact 2005: car equivalents Crop/Trait/Country US: GM HT soybeans Argentina: GM HT soybeans Other countries: GM HT soybeans Canada: GM HT canola Global GM IR cotton Permanent carbon dioxide savings arising from reduced fuel use (million kg of carbon dioxide) 176 546 55 117 68 Average family car equivalents removed from the road for a year from the permanent fuel savings 78,222 242,667 24,444 52,000 30,222 Executive Summary and Conclusions Potential additional soil carbon sequestration savings (million kg of carbon dioxide) 2,195 4,340 435 1,083 0 Average family car equivalents removed from the road for a year from the potential additional soil carbon sequestration 975,556 1,928,889 193,333 481,520 0 Total 962 427,556 8,053 3,579,298 Notes: Assumption: an average family car produces 150 grams of carbon dioxide of km. A car does an average of 15,000 km/year and therefore produces 2,250 kg of carbon dioxide/year Concluding comments GM technology has, to date delivered several specific agronomic traits that have overcome a number of production constraints for many farmers. This has resulted in improved productivity and profitability for the 8.5 million adopting farmers who have applied the technology to over 87 million hectares in 2005. During the last ten years, this technology has made important positive socio-economic and environmental contributions. These have arisen even though only a limited range of GM agronomic traits have so far been commercialised, in a small range of crops. The GM technology has delivered economic and environmental gains through a combination of their inherent technical advances and the role of the technology in the facilitation and evolution of more cost effective and environmentally friendly farming practices. More specifically: • the gains from the GM IR traits have mostly been delivered directly from the technology (yield improvements, reduced production risk and decreased the use of insecticides). Thus farmers (mostly in developing countries) have been able to both improve their productivity and economic returns whilst also practicing more environmentally friendly farming methods; • the gains from GM HT traits have come from a combination of direct benefits (mostly cost reductions to the farmer) and the facilitation of changes in farming systems. Thus, GM HT technology (especially in soybeans) has played an important role in enabling farmers to xv
Executive Summary and Conclusions capitalise on the availability of a low cost, broad-spectrum herbicide (glyphosate) and in turn, facilitated the move away from conventional to low/no tillage production systems in both North and South America. This change in production system has made additional positive economic contributions to farmers (and the wider economy) and delivered important environmental benefits, notably reduced levels of GHG emissions (from reduced tractor fuel use and additional soil carbon sequestration). The impact of GM HT traits has, however contributed to increased reliance on a limited range of herbicides and this poses questions about the possible future increased development of weed resistance to these herbicides. Some degree of reduced effectiveness of glyphosate (and glufosinate) against certain weeds may take place. To the extent to which this may occur, this will increase the necessity to include low dose rates applications of other herbicides in weed control programmes (commonly used in conventional production systems) and hence may marginally reduce the level of net environmental and economic gains derived from the current use of the GM technology. xvi
Page 1 and 2: I S A A A INTERNATIONAL SERVICE FOR
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Page 5 and 6: Contents 3.6.2 China ..............
Page 7 and 8: List of Tables Table 37. Change in
Page 10 and 11: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS E
Page 12 and 13: Table 2. GM crop farm income benefi
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Page 20 and 21: 1 INTRODUCTION GM Crops: The First
Page 22 and 23: GM Crops: The First Ten Years Figur
Page 24 and 25: Figure 4. Global GM crop plantings
Page 26 and 27: 3 THE FARM LEVEL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF
Page 28 and 29: • The annual total national farm
Page 30 and 31: 3.1.3 Brazil GM HT soybeans were pr
Page 32 and 33: Table 14. Farm level income impact
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Page 36 and 37: 3.2.2 Canada GM Crops: The First Te
Page 38 and 39: 3.3.2 Other countries GM Crops: The
Page 54 and 55: 3.7.4 Insect resistant potatoes GM
Page 56 and 57: size. The analysis found that mean
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years Figur
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Table 38. Herbicide usage on cotton
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years Table
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years Table
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Table 47. Comparison of insecticide
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years g) Su
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In terms of GHG each litre of tract
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years As we
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years using
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years b) So
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years a) Fu
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GM Crops: The First Ten Years b) So
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4.2.7 Insect resistant cotton The c
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Table 63. Summary of carbon sequest
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Appendix Appendix 2: The Environmen
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Appendix environmental factor is eq
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Appendix 3: Additional information
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Typical herbicide regimes for GM HT
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Typical insecticide regimes for cot
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References Fernandez-Cornejo J & Mc
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ISBN 1-892456-41-9
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