New reports show GM crop usage, benefits and role in future food security

The Australian Biotechnology Council of Australia (ABCA) has advised that two key agricultural biotechnology resources released globally last week outline the increasing global uptake of GM crops, their benefits and their role in ensuring food security in a changing climate.

GM crop global use and benefits

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) released its annual GM crop area statistics last week, which indicates more than 18 million farmers in 27 countries planted GM crops in 2013 across 175.2 million hectares - a 3% increase from 2012.

The report highlights the role of GM crops in contributing to sustainable agricultural production by:

• Contributing to food, feed and fibre security and self sufficiency, including more affordable food, by increasing productivity and economic benefits sustainably at the farmer level;
• Conserving biodiversity, as biotech crops are a land-saving technology;
• Contributing to the alleviation of poverty and hunger;
• Reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint;
• Helping mitigate climate change and reducing greenhouse gases.

According to ISAAA, “The most compelling and credible testimony to biotech [GM] crops is that during the 18-year period 1996 to 2013, millions of farmers in ~30 countries worldwide elected to make more than 100 million independent decisions to plant and replant an accumulated hectarage of more than 1.6 billion hectares. This is an area equivalent to >150% the size of the total land mass of the US or China, which is an enormous area. There is one principal and overwhelming reason that underpins the trust and confidence of risk-averse farmers in biotechnology - biotech crops deliver substantial, and sustainable, socio-economic and environmental benefits.”

Agricultural technologies and food security

The International Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI) report, titled ‘Food Security in a World of Growing Natural Resource Scarcity: The Role of Agricultural Technologies’, measured the impacts of agricultural innovation on farm productivity, prices, hunger and trade flows to 2050 and identifies practices that could significantly benefit developing nations.

The study profiles 11 agricultural innovations: crop protection, drip irrigation, drought tolerance, heat tolerance, integrated soil fertility management, no-till farming, nutrient-use efficiency, organic agriculture, precision agriculture, sprinkler irrigation and water harvesting.

The report concludes in part, “The technologies with the highest percentage of potential impact for agriculture in developing countries include no-till farming, nitrogen-use efficiency, heat-tolerant crops, and crop protection from weeds, insects and diseases.”

ABCA is an industry initiative with four founding members - AusBiotech, CropLife Australia, Grains Research & Development Corporation and the National Farmers’ Federation - and its activities are also supported by a project partnership with the red meat industry. For further information, contact Chair, ABCA Public Affairs Working Group, Jaelle Bajada on 0410 491 261 or the ABCA Secretariat at info@abca.com.au, on 03 9828 1499 or via www.abca.com.au.