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GM Crops: A Farmer's Dream?

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Conferring Resistance

Disease

Pest/Herbicide

Stress

Ramifications

Increased Profit Margin

Land Use

Monoculture

Poor Farmers vs.  Rich Farmers

Cultural Backlash

Conclusions

Works Cited

 

Land Use

Crops engineered to resist disease, pests, herbicides, and abiotic stresses allow farmers to increase yields from already cultivated lands.  In other words, farmers can produce more with the same amount of land.  This has been the goal of many agricultural researchers since the beginning of the Green Revolution--the ability to increase crop production without expanding farmlands at the expense of pristine ecosystems.  A comparison of the yields in 2003 of two major crops, wheat and rice, reveals substantial differences between various parts of the globe; clearly there is room for improvement:

Country/Region Yields (hectagrams/hectare)
Wheat Rice
United States 29,738 74,482
India 27,728 30,344
Africa 23,242 20,033
Industrialized Countries 32,895 65,609
Least Developed Countries 18,102 30,667
Source: FAOSTAT data, 2004

GM crops could help decrease the sizeable difference in yields between industrialized and undeveloped countries; after the introduction of Bt cotton in India, yields saw a 60% increase over 4 years (Qaim and Zilberman, 2003).  It's no wonder that yield-increasing crops are in demand in developed countries, as well.  The potential benefits to the farmer are tempting.  GM crops increase yields without increasing the amount of land needed or (in some cases) the amount of work required for crop maintenance.

In addition to increasing yields, GM crops engineered for resistance to abiotic stresses could help farmers reclaim lands lost because of soil leaching, salinity, or cold temperatures.  Over-irrigated land whose soil has accumulated high levels of salt could once again be cultivated with salt-tolerant crops.  Rice farmers could reclaim the 30% of rice lands affected by salinity, the 20% affected by drought, and the 10% affected by cold temperatures (Lane, 2002).  The harsh winters of Canada's prairies could be perceived as only a minor threat to the cultivation of wheat and canola (Functional Genomics, 2004).  Farmers near the Brazilian cerrado, whose aluminum-containing soils have prevented extensive cultivation, could grow aluminum-tolerant crops (Plucknett and Smith, 1982). 

The reclamation of land for agricultural purposes has potential environmental problems, however.  With GM crops capable of growing in new, previously uncultivated lands, farmers could be in danger of destroying local ecosystems and expanding too far into pristine environments.  Nevertheless, considering the ever-increasing human population, yields will probably not increase at a rate high enough to prevent environmental loss due to agricultural expansion unless GM crops replace traditionally bred varieties.  Farmers are struggling to keep up with the demands of the growing world; increasing land use by using GM crops to increase yields/decrease losses is an option that should not be ignored.


Questions or comments can be directed to  saparker@davidson.edu

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Last modified April 2004