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Robert Tuck


Major Crops: Cotton, grains, legumes, livestock

Farm Size: 5,000+ acres (2,000+ hectares)

Years Farming: 20+

First Planted Biotech Crops: 1996

Favorite Benefits: Lifestyle, more time with family, ease of management, safety

Family: Married, three children

The introduction of biotechnology has definitely raised our sustainability on this farm.
The introduction of biotechnology has definitely raised our sustainability on this farm.
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Video Transcript


Sustainability on our farm is a very important issue. With the introduction of biotechnology and GM cotton, it has definitely raised our sustainability on this farm. I've got three boys ranging from five to one. ... And, we want to see a future for them. I'm a fourth generation farmer in this area ... and definitely I want to see my boys carry it on. ...

... And their future definitely looks more rosy now. ...

... And plus, the other big benefit, I spend a lot more time with my family, which my ... three boys and wife really enjoy.

Susannah Tuck
One of the biggest changes I've seen is time. ... I see — we see — more of him. He's not out there checking bugs every second day.

Robert Tuck
Back when we were growing conventional cotton, cotton was a fairly intensive past time for our enterprise. ...

We were spraying up to 15-16 times a year, which was putting a lot of pesticide into the environment. ... But now with the introduction of Bollgard, ... we can put cotton right beside our stocking paddocks, our cattle paddocks and our sheep paddocks — and without any dramas of having pesticide residuals on the grass or anything just over the fence line. Which is, you know, it's made a fantastic difference to the enterprise, and definitely made it more productive. ... We’re using more land. We are using it more efficiently. And it's been good for the environment.

Susannah Tuck
It does make you feel better, about not using heaps of insecticides.

Robert Tuck
I mean our environmental benefits of biotechnology ... has been fantastic. I mean, we are definitely seeing a lot more beneficials in the crop. You know to a point where you have spiders and you have lady beetles. The crop is just armada of them, which is fantastic — which has good spin-offs onto our dry land farming as well. Those beneficials help with control, ... which has reduced our pesticide use out there as well.

Biotechnology, I think, it is here to stay, and hopefully we can see more of it. ... I think there is some exciting technology out there. Drought resistance. I mean we live in a continent that is the driest continent in the world, and there’s a lot of unproductive land out there in Australia that could be growing useful productive crops. It could help our economy, help our unemployment, help everything.

© 2006 Monsanto Company. All rights reserved. The copyright holder consents to the use of this material and the images in the published context only and solely for the purpose of promoting the benefits of agricultural biotechnology.

Editor's Notes:

  • Bollgard® cotton contains a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that protects cotton plants from specific lepidopteron insect pests.
  • Bollgard® is a registered trademark of Monsanto Company.
  • Pesticides registered by the U.S. EPA will not cause unreasonable adverse effects on man or the environment, when used in accordance with label directions.