Introduction to Green Biotechnology

 Agricultural or “green” biotechnology is being adopted at record speed around the world - in 2006, 10.3 million farmers in 22 countries cultivated genetically modified (biotech) crops on 102 million hectares. The adoption rate is seeing double-digit annual growth since 1996. Planting in Europe has been much slower, but is accelerating as farmers start realizing the benefits of biotech crops. In 2006, six European countries (Portugal, Spain, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania) grew biotech crops as opposed to only one a few years ago 1. The number of hectares of biotech crops in Europe, although modest, is also growing significantly. The technology is safe and regulatory systems, if applied correctly in the countries of the European Union, guarantee consumers and farmers the choice of whether or not to consume and plant biotech crops.

Agricultural biotechnology offers tremendous opportunities across key European public policy goals, including innovation, education, development, health, renewable resources and energy, and trade. Biotechnology is being exploited at an accelerating rate by Europe’s competitors, but if allowed to flourish, it will contribute to the increased economic and environmental sustainability of European agriculture and to efforts to ensure world food stocks keep up with rising demand.

The benefits of green biotechnology to farmers, the environment, consumers and society are many.

Biotech crops are able to:
  • increase yields by 6% - 30% on the same amount of land; thereby freeing up land for other uses than agricultural production;
  • offer efficient protection against insect damage to crops; while significantly reducing the need to spray crops;
  • result in permanent reductions in fuel use and resultant CO2 emissions due to less tillage;
  • have already reduced the global environmental ‘foot print’ of production agriculture by 14% 2  including reductions of CO2 emissions in 2004 equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road for one year;
  • produce better, safer and healthier food and feedstuffs, such as healthier vegetable oils; produce containing less harmful natural toxins such as mycotoxins;
  • increase the economic viability of biofuels by reducing production costs of raw materials;
  • allow farmers to grow more food more reliably in harsher climatic conditions;
  • reduce water use and help us meet the Millennium Development Goals;
  • protect soils from erosion and compaction through less ploughing;
  • create jobs e.g. over 1 million new jobs were created in Argentina over a period of 10 years from the adoption of biotech crops 3.
     

1 Source: ISAAA, “Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM crops: 2006”
2 Brookes and Barfoot, “GM Crops: The Global and Environmental Impact – The First Nine Years 1996-2004”, Agbiofourum 8, (2$3):187-196
3 Ten Years of Genetically Modified Crops in Argentine Agriculture
Green Biotechnology Manifesto [Print version] PDF