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WHAT IS GMO OR BIOTECHNOLOGY’S IMPACT ON BIODIVERSITY?
11 Farmers and Experts from Around the World Discuss Positive Changes in On-Farm Ecosystems and Habitat Loss

The issue of biodiversity has gained attention over the past several years as concerns for the cleanliness and sustainability of the environment have increased.  In fact, biodiversity is often cited in a number of debates regarding environmental, scientific and globalization issues.

So, what is biodiversity?  While there are different definitions and measurements, biodiversity can most simply be defined as the contraction of two words – biological diversity, which refers to the number, variety and variability of living organisms (plants, animals and microorganisms).  The definition of biodiversity also includes the interaction of these living organisms at three basic levels – the genetic, species and ecosystem levels.

Farmers are keenly aware that many of the factors that affect biodiversity are directly and indirectly related to agriculture.  “All kinds of agriculture – including organic farming – is a threat to biodiversity,” says Dr. Klaus Ammann, former director of the Botanical Garden and an Honorary Professor Emeritus at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

And, while critics often try to relate GMOs or biotechnology with negative impacts, biotechnology does not represent any greater risk to biodiversity than conventional crops.  In fact, independent research and more than a decade of commercial-scale use demonstrates that biotechnology is neutral or positive relative to other production systems.  The adoption of GMOs has enabled farmers to engage in sustainable agriculture – limiting the negative impacts of farming on the plants, animals and microorganisms that exist on and around their farms.

Australian farmer Robert Tuck first planted GMO crops on his farm in 1996 and has seen a reduction in habitat loss and a significant increase in beneficial insects in his fields.  “We are definitely seeing a lot more beneficials in the crop. … spiders, you have lady beetles.  The crop is just armada of them, which is fantastic,” says Tuck.

This increase in insects and decrease in habitat loss in the crop is not just limited to Australia, but has been realized by farmers across the other five continents where GMO crops are currently grown.

“The things that startled all the farming shareholders that come to Argentina is the actual wildlife in Argentina.  Because we have no till, the increase in bird life is staggering. And, you know, people can't get over this,” says Jim McCarthy, an Irish farmer who cannot grow GMO crops in his homeland, but is part of a group investing in farming in Argentina where biotechnology is available. 

“But also because we have Bt, we're not using huge amounts of organophosphates, so the food chain is not being interrupted for the wildlife,” McCarthy explains.  Bt crops contain a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that protects plants from specific lepidopteron insect pests, allowing farmers to control insect plagues while reducing the spraying of pesticides.

Roundup Ready crops are also positively changing the way that farmers grow their crops, with an overall decrease in the amount of tillage required, thus decreasing habitat loss, improving the on-farm ecosystem, and benefiting the environment and biodiversity. 

“It's also a question about no tillage or low tillage, because plowing is a catastrophe for the soil biodiversity,” explains Dr. Ammann.  “And now we have better ways and means to kill the weeds.  So this is one of the strategies, which is clearly related to biotechnology.”

While many factors contribute, growers cite Roundup Ready crops as the primary factor that enables them to use less plowing and adopt no till farming or conservation tillage programs in the production of corn, canola, soybeans and cotton. 

The benefits of reducing the amount of plowing or tillage have been well documented by studying on-farm ecosystems. The documented benefits strongly support sustainable agriculture and include: reduced soil erosion, improved moisture, increased soil microorganisms, either no differences or increased earthworm and beneficial insect populations, less sediment runoff into streams, reduced habitat loss and reduced carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere.

“Reduced tillage made possible a better development of soil microbiology – and that was an environmental revolution under the soil, on the soil surface, and in nature,” comments Almir Rebelo, president of Friends of the Earth and expert on sustainable agriculture in Brazil.

“If farmers could produce more on the land that they have, the pressure on the forest would be less.  So, you would leave more forested area.  You would leave more wildlife.  You would leave more biodiversity, which of course is what we all would like to see,” says Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, the H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy and Professor of Applied Economics at Cornell University, 2001 World Food Prize Laureate and catalyst behind the 2020 Vision Initiative.

“We will not be able to achieve the goals to produce more food on less ground with old-fashioned ideas on agriculture,” says Dr. Ammann.  “With the help of modern biotechnology, we will be able to achieve these goals.”