crops in 1996, farmers have reduced - and, in some cases, completely
stopped - plowing or tilling the soil to eliminate weeds and prepare
fields for planting. The benefits of conservation tillage range from
less erosion to improved wildlife habitat to a reduction in greenhouse
gases and fuel use.
"Our problem with erosion was very serious and it was very damaging to
the environment to the extent that, in these crops, to produce one ton
of grain in Brazil, we lost 10 tons of soil per hectare per year. We
solved this problem by eliminating tillage," says Almir Rebelo, grower
advisor and president of Friends of the Earth, a Brazilian grower
organization.
With conservation tillage, farmers leave the stubble or plant residue on
the soil's surface, rather than plowing or disking it into the soil. The
new crop is planted directly into this stubble, and GM (genetically
modified) herbicide-tolerant plants make it possible and practical for
growers to control weeds in the crop by applying an herbicide rather
than plowing.
A reduction in plowing means a decrease in the number "tractor trips"
across a field - resulting in fuel savings and a reduction in greenhouse
gases. "Looking at the impact on greenhouse gas emissions, the
technology has helped deliver important savings," says Graham Brookes,
an agricultural economist and director of UK-based PG Economics. "In
2004, 10 billion kilograms less carbon dioxide have been released into
the atmosphere. And that's equivalent to taking 20 percent of the cars
in the United Kingdom off the road for a year."
In the United States alone, farmers have increased no-till crop acres by
35 percent since 1996 when GM crops were first planted. "We no longer
have to till the fields to control weeds, where we used to have to till
two, three times and use more diesel and jeopardize the soil to more
erosion," says Terry Wanzek, a U.S. corn and soybean farmer.
"As a result of us keeping crop residue on the ground, we have a new
foraging opportunity for wildlife," says U.S. cotton, corn and soybean
farmer Jay Hardwick. "So we're seeing a new happening on the landscape
in terms of wildlife emergence. Not only top of it, but underneath.
Earthworms are coming back to play, and earthworms are strategic in
getting water into the soil structure."
The impact of conservation agriculture has been just as significant to
farmers in the developing world. "We do not have to burn the residue in
our harvest anymore," says Jerry Due, a Philippine corn farmer. "We just
allow the residue to decompose in the field to become fertilizers."
These comments - as well as comments from two additional experts and
four additional farmers - are available in a short video and podcast
about conservation agriculture at Monsanto Company's "Conversations
about Plant Biotechnology" website:
www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/new.htm. Visitors to the "Conversations
about Plant Biotechnology" website can access dozens of additional
videos with the farmers and families who grow GM crops and the experts
who research and study the technology.
Press Contact: Michael Doane
Company Name:
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 314-694-8351
Website: www.monsanto.com/biotech-gmo/new.htm
AndhraNews.net News for May 8, 2006