Benefits to Farmers

Agricultural Biotechnology: Benefits to Farmers

Natural resources such as water and land are experiencing the pressure of a world population that grows by 210,000 every day1 and is projected to rise to seven billion by 20132 and eight billion by 2030.3  U. S. population has grown by 20 million since 2000.4 

Agricultural biotechnology can help farmers feed the world's growing population, while minimizing impacts on the global environment.  In 2007, 12 million farmers in 23 countries – 12 developing and 11 industrialized – planted biotech crops, primarily soybeans, corn, cotton and canola.  Eleven million of them were small or resource-poor farmers in developing countries.5 After more than a decade of use on over a billion acres worldwide, agricultural biotechnology continues to provide economic and environmental benefits for today and tomorrow, as well as a solid record of safely.6

In 2006, U.S. farmers grew eight different biotech crops – alfalfa, canola, corn, cotton, papaya, soybean, squash and sweet corn – most of which were either disease-resistant, pest-resistant or herbicide tolerant.  These traits increase production, boost farmers' incomes and enable them to farm more sustainably.

Agricultural biotechnology benefits are many, and include:

• Increasing production.  Average corn yield in the United States has increased from 33 bushels per acre in 1945 to 150 bushels per acre today, due in large part to agricultural biotechnology. Biotech plants that resist pests and diseases, tolerate harsh growing conditions and reduce spoilage prevent farmers from losing billions of pounds of important crops.  In 2005, such plants helped U.S. farmers avoid losing some eight billion pounds of crops.8
• Improving farmers' bottoms lines.  In addition to increasing farmers' yields per acre, agricultural biotechnology also lowers their costs.  A study released in 2005 by the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy found that biotech plants improved to resist herbicides and insects helped U.S. farmers reduce their annual production costs by $1.4 billion, contributing to an increase in net profits of $2 billion.
• Enabling sustainable farming.  No-till agriculture, made possible by plants that tolerate the newer class of lower-impact herbicides, has improved soil and water quality and reduced runoff.  In 2005, 89 percent (67 million acres) of U.S. soybean acreage was planted with herbicide-tolerant varieties, enabling farmers to eliminate plowing almost entirely.

Agricultural biotechnology helps farmers be better stewards of their land in many other ways.

• Improved pest management.  Biotech crop varieties have dramatically reduced farmers' need for pesticides, eliminating 70 million pounds in the United States in 2005.
• Benefits to biodiversity.  No-till agriculture maintains soil health and conserves topsoil and moisture.  Coupled with reduced pesticide application, no-till agriculture has encouraged the growth of habitats that support different varieties of wildlife, including songbirds, which have returned to agricultural fields in increasing numbers as biotech crop acreage has increased.
• Supporting threatened ecosystems.  The United Nations estimates that feeding the world's population over the next quarter century will require doubling food production,
• accelerating the threat of converting rainforests and other ecosystems to farmland.  Increasing yields on existing farmlands reduces the pressure to convert more wild lands to agriculture.  In addition, traits such as the ability to thrive despite drought, salty or toxic soils, or freezing temperatures will enable farmers to bring heretofore non-arable lands into production.
• Improved sustainability.  Fertile soil depends on healthy microbial communities and moisture retention, both of which are dramatically enhanced by no-till agriculture.  Eliminating plowing also reduces the use of tractors and other farm equipment, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Since 1996, biotech crops globally have saved farmers 441 million gallons of fuel, preventing nearly 10.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

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