The 10th anniversary of the first commercially available biotech crop was celebrated last night with a declaration by experts that agricultural biotechnology has brought many benefits for farmers and the environment, and its use will continue to grow exponentially, especially in developing countries. 

 

At an event organized by CropLife International and EuropaBio, and attended by around 100 policymakers, diplomats, academics, NGOs, media and scientists, experts in the field of biotechnology from Brazil, the US and the UK shared their different experiences with biotech cultivation and regulation.

 

Alda Lerayer, Executive Director of CIB Brazil, said that since legalizing biotech crop cultivation, her country has moved to the forefront of the huge international market that has evolved in trade of biotech commodities.

 

“Last year Brazilian farmers planted around 2 million hectares of biotech crops, she said.  "The potential for us to continue to produce GM crops and supply an increasingly demanding international market is enormous."

Underlining the widespread level of acceptance of GM crops among farmers, Ms. Lerayer added that 32 percent of Brazil’s total biotech soybean harvest comes from family farms.

 

“What we are finding is that these technologies are also being embraced by the small farmers and making a real difference to their lives,” she said.

 

Providing a US perspective, where commercial biotech crop cultivation has become widely practiced since its introduction in 1996, US State Department Senior Advisor for Agricultural Biotechnology Madelyn Spirnak said that most Americans accepted biotechnology as an everyday part of their lives.

 

“Most of the time we just don’t think about it,” she said. “The degree of consumer acceptance is so high in the US, we trust that whatever is on our shelves is safe to eat.”

 

Acknowledging that GM foods were “not a panacea” to problems of food security and poverty, she said they were “a very important tool which shouldn’t be denied to the people of the world.”  Ms. Spirnak added that benefits to farmers of planting biotech crops includes reduced soil tillage, greater flexibility in planting and increased profits.

 

Third generation British farmer, Paul Temple provided a European farmer’s perspective to the gathering, describing biotech crop cultivation as “precision farming at its best”.  Speaking from personal experience, Mr. Temple said that “science was the future of sustainable farming”. 

 

“I used to be a sceptic, but having seen the benefits of biotechnology, I am now a convert,” he said. “I used less fuel, saw an increase in wildlife habitats on my farm and had less troublesome weeds which are very expensive to control.”

 

Citing the experience of Spain – the only EU country currently harvesting significant amount biotech crops – Mr. Temple said that, unless Europe becomes more flexible in its approach to biotechnologies, it risked “falling far behind the rest of the world”.

 

CropLife International Director-General Christian Verschueren said of evening’s speakers, “Their testimony to the clear benefits of biotechnology comes from first hand experience.”

 

“I believe there is a bright future for this remarkable technology – and that the mood in Europe towards biotech products is becoming progressively more positive.  Pressure is also growing from many farmers who, understandably, want to be free to choose which seed varieties they grow.  In the next ten years, we will see even more benefits for consumers and sustainable agriculture," he said.

 

CropLife International has recently launched a searchable database of peer-reviewed scientific papers highlighting the safety and benefits of plant biotechnology, which can be accessed at www.croplife.org/biotechdatabase.

CropLife International is the global federation representing the plant science industry.  It supports a network of regional and national associations in 91 countries, and is led by companies such as BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences, DuPont, FMC, Monsanto, Sumitomo and Syngenta.  CropLife International promotes the benefits of crop protection and biotechnology products, their importance to sustainable agriculture and food production, and their responsible use through stewardship activities.