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José María Falcão


Major Crops: Olives, wheat, maize (corn), barley

Farm Size: 6,250 acres (2,500 hectares)

Years Farming: 30+

First Planted Biotech Crops: 2006

Favorite Benefits: More output with less input, environmental benefits, more free time for family

Family: Married, 2 children

This is the only way to increase productivity and reduce the world area reserved for these crops.
This is the only way to increase productivity and reduce the world area reserved for these crops.
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BT MAIZE INCREASES PRODUCTIVITY ON PORTUGUESE FARMS
Falcão Describes How Corn Developed through Biotechnology Requires Less Land for Increased Food and Feed Production

Portugal is one of eight EU countries in which farmers are planting Bt maize (corn) developed through biotechnology to increase food and feed production by combating European corn borer (ECB) infestations.  The ECB is an insect pest that affects approximately 10 percent of Portugal’s maize hectares annually. 

Regions infested by the ECB can experience serious production losses through plant destruction and decreased yields.  “Biotechnology gives us the ability … to have something more productive, safer and more environmentally responsible,” says José Maria Falcão, a Portuguese farmer who has grown maize for more than 25 years and Bt maize for the last few seasons.

Bt maize contains a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that protects maize plants from specific lepidopteron insect pests such as the ECB.   The in-plant protection allows farmers to control these insect pests with significantly less insecticide than conventional insect-control programs. 

“We are having more productive crops that are more resistant to all kind of pests and diseases, more resistant to climate phenomena, more resistant to drought or lack of water,” says Falcão.  “That allows for lower amounts of inputs in the crops. And by having fewer inputs and more environmentally responsible inputs, we are creating sustainability in regional, national and global terms.”

Portuguese farmers first planted Bt maize in 1999; and after a five-year gap, they resumed planting in 2005.  By 2007, approximately 4,300 hectares – nearly 30 percent of the 15,000 hectares infested by the ECB in Portugal – were planted with Bt maize.   Across the EU, total plantings of Bt maize exceeded 100,000 hectares for the first time in 2007, with a year-on-year growth rate of 7 percent.

“… we cannot work in agriculture anymore without biotechnology,” explains Falcão.  “Portugal and Europe are not sustainable without biotechnology.”

Portuguese farmers growing Bt maize have seen significant benefits – yield increases of 8 to 17 percent, with an average increase of 12 percent of 1.2 metric tons per hectare.  Increasing yield on the same amount of land is a critical component to increasing food production for the world’s growing population.

“If we are not able to have high productivity, we will have to expand the cultivated areas. And by doing so, we can be assured we will go to areas that will never produce. We will have to go to the Amazon rainforest since that will be the only way to contribute to reducing food needs in the future,” says Falcão.  “But biotechnology tells us otherwise, and has proved otherwise. It tells us that we can produce more in smaller areas.”

Editor's Notes:

  • Bt corn contains a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that protects corn plants from specific lepidopteron insect pests.
  • 1 hectare = 2.5 acres

Video Transcript



My name is José Maria Falcão.  I am 49 years old, and I have always been a farmer.  My parents were farmers also.

The food crisis that we are suffering today shows us that eggs, potatoes, chicken and maize do not suddenly appear on the supermarket shelves.  They come from land that has production costs, that involves many families working in this sector. …

Biotechnology gives us the ability … to have something more productive, safer and more environmentally responsible. …

If our politicians want to follow the path – a political path – of saying no to biotechnology, as a farmer I have just one solution and that is leaving the country and continent because we cannot work in agriculture anymore without biotechnology. … Portugal and Europe are not sustainable without biotechnology. …

… This is the only way to increase productivity and reduce the world area reserved for these crops. …

If we are not able to have high productivity, we will have to expand the cultivated areas. And by doing so, we can be assured we will go to areas that will never produce. We will have to go to the Amazon rainforest since that will be the only way to contribute to reducing food needs in the future.

But biotechnology tells us otherwise, and has proved otherwise. It tells us that we can produce more in smaller areas. …

We are having more productive crops that are more resistant to all kind of pests and diseases, more resistant to climate phenomena, more resistant to drought or lack of water. That allows for lower amounts of inputs in the crops. And by having fewer inputs and more environmentally responsible inputs, we are creating sustainability in regional, national and global terms.