Policy Experts Cite Advances in Plant Biotechnology

By Jim Fuller
Washington File Science Writer

Washington -- U.S. representatives of industry and agriculture groups report that advances in biotechnology are helping to increase farm productivity in ways that will help ensure adequate food security for the world's growing population.

The remarks, made at a briefing December 8, centered on a report entitled "Ensuring Global Food Security." The report was issued by the National Policy Association, a nonprofit research organization. It calls for an international policy debate on how to help countries instill public confidence in genetically enhanced plants produced by agricultural biotechnology.

Charles Johnson, executive vice president of DuPont Corporation and author of the report, said that biotechnology may be the only practical way of ensuring adequate food security for the world's growing population.

He emphasized that no new land can be intensively cultivated to meet the growing worldwide demand for food without serious environmental consequences -- as is happening with rain forests -- and that he believes genetic enhancement is the one major remaining source for substantially increasing crop yields. He also pointed out that food production shortfalls continue to threaten the food security of many low-income countries.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service reports that there will be an increasing gap between actual food consumption and the level of consumption needed to meet minimal nutritional requirements over the next decade.

"I don't know of a single issue that is more likely to create major geopolitical instability or conflict than to have insecurity about, access to, and availability of food," Johnson said. "To date, there has been no clear way to develop policy responses to these concerns, to create or modify institutions, or to have constructive dialogue on the issues."

Johnson said a public policy debate is needed to focus on helping countries instill public confidence in genetically enhanced plants; develop systems that allow grain to flow quickly and easily from where it is in surplus to where it is in deficit; and create mechanisms to ensure a worldwide strategic reserve of grain, accessible by all nations.

"All countries should discuss these goals within relevant international institutions and venues and seek solutions to the serious concerns highlighted here at the earliest possible time," he said. "Nothing less than global food security is at stake."

Rosemarie Watkins, senior director of government relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation, which boasts more than five million members, said that the current debate over biotechnology in the media and public forums is often fueled by errors in fact and political agendas.

"It has little to do with the technology, or the needs of agriculture, the environment and the world's people," she said. "And it certainly seems that we should instead be having a debate about the long-term view of what the technology can deliver and the needs of the world over the next millennium."

Watkins said that the benefits of plant biotechnology are evident in a recent study released by Iowa State University which showed that Midwest farmers who planted Bt corn in 1996, 1997 and 1998 -- the first three growing seasons when Bt corn was commercially available -- reduced their insecticide use each year.

Bt corn is genetically engineered to produce a protein that is toxic to some insects, including the European corn borer. The study was conducted by Marlin Rice, an Iowa State professor of entomology, in conjunction with entomologists in the states of Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

The researchers, who surveyed farmers who planted Bt corn in those states, found that 26 percent of the farmers decreased their insecticide use in 1998. That compared to 19 percent of Bt-corn farmers who decreased their insecticide use in 1997, and 13 percent of such farmers who decreased their pesticide use in 1996.

Of the farmers surveyed, 82 percent said their primary reason for planting a Bt corn hybrid was to prevent yield loss, and 27 percent indicated it was to totally eliminate insecticide use. Forty-five percent rated yields of Bt corn as higher compared to similar maturity non-Bt hybrids planted about the same time.

"While yield data is somewhat limited because these crops have been adapted so recently, the data does indicate increased productivity due to insect control and cost savings due to decreased chemical use," Watkins said.

Rice said in the study that the results may help the public realize that the technology has benefits, such as the reduced use of insecticides, which are harmful to all insects, while Bt corn is harmful to just a few insects. A number of reports have talked about the potential detrimental effects of Bt corn on monarch butterflies.

Charles Johnson, executive vice president of DuPont, said data shows that genetic enhancement alone is increasing crop yield by roughly two to three bushels per hectare.

"What biotechnology does is protect that yield so that it isn't lost through damage from insects and other environmental damages," he said. "But irrespective of the kinds of damage that may be caused externally, genetics alone is increasing the productivity of the plant."

Watkins said that farmers view hybridization, and now biotechnology, as a natural progression toward greater agricultural efficiency, and that this can be seen in the increased rate of adoption of plant biotechnology. A recent report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that 57 percent of the nation's soybean crop, 65 percent of the cotton crop, and 35 percent of corn are currently grown from biotech seeds.

"Internationally, there are 40 million hectares planted in 20 varieties of seeds from biotechnology, and those are within nations that are the largest producers and exporters of agriculture commodities," she said. "About 15 percent of that acreage is in developing countries."

L. Val Giddings, vice president of the food and agriculture division of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, said data shows that, with regard to soybeans, biotechnology has increased yields by 5 percent, reduced the use of herbicides by 22 percent, reduced foreign matter contamination -- like weeds -- by 33 percent, and reduced erosion and top soil loss by 90 percent.

"The latest report shows that 93 percent of the grain elevators have no intention whatsoever of discriminating against grains derived from biotechnology," Giddings said. "I've even seen some data suggesting that genetically enhanced soybeans are demanding a small premium in the market because they are freer of weed debris."

Watkins said farmers are anxiously awaiting the next generation of new crops that are under development. "Some of the characteristics of these new crops include resistance to salt and drought; rice that increases vitamin A -- 40 million people in the world are vitamin A deficient, many of these children in developing countries; and oilseed with increased vitamin E," she said. "So if you begin to look at the potential, it really is remarkable."

This site is produced and maintained by the U.S. Department of State. Links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.