Conservation tillage and plant biotechnology: how new technologies can improve the environment by reducing the need to plow (2002)
This paper is relevant to the Agronomic, Socio-Economic, and Environmental categories in the following areas:
Crops:
Maize, Cotton, Soybean, and Oilseed Rape
Traits:
Herbicide Tolerance
Countries:
US
Regions:
North America
ImpactAreas:
Agronomic, Environmental, and Socio-Economic
Abstract or Summary:
Conservation tillage can provide environmental benefits, including:
• Reduced soil erosion
• Improved moisture content in soil
• Healthier, more nutrient-enriched soil
• More earthworms and beneficial soil microbes
• Reduced consumption of fuel to operate equipment
• The return of beneficial insects, birds and other wildlife in and around fields
• Less sediment and chemical runoff entering streams
• Reduced potential for flooding
• Less dust and smoke to pollute the air
• Less carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere
There is a strong association between the use of herbicide-tolerant biotech crops and recent improvements in tillage reduction. Four trends support this conclusion:
• Weed control is a major consideration when farmers are weighing whether to implement conservation tillage, and several surveys indicate that farmers have more confidence in weed control since the introduction of herbicide-tolerant biotech crops. In some surveys, farmers say herbicide-tolerant crops enabled them to increase the amount of residue they leave on their fields.
• No-till, the tillage system that most relies on good herbicide performance, has grown more than other reduced tillage systems since 1996, and nearly all the growth has occurred in crops where herbicide-tolerance technology is available – soybeans, cotton and canola. (Herbicide-tolerant corn has not been widely adopted due to pending regulatory approval in Europe, nor has no-till corn expanded as rapidly as other crops.)
• Farmers who purchase herbicide-tolerant seeds use them disproportionately on their conservation tillage acres.
• Farmers who do not purchase herbicide-tolerant seeds are not as likely to participate in conservation tillage.
Paper reproduced by permission of Conservation Technology Information Center.
