Print This PageReducing the Environmental Impact of Agriculture
Biotech Crops Raise Yield per Acre
Brothers Craig and Gene Stehly grow Asgrow brand Roundup Ready soybeans to
protect yield on their family farm in South Dakota.
Since its introduction in 1996, biotechnology has enabled farmers to improve yield and reduce inputs through traits that allow improved weed and insect management.
Farmers need to produce more food than ever before. Each year, global population grows by more than 73 million.23 This is only slightly less than adding a population the size of Germany’s each year. As a result, world population is expected to reach 7 billion by 2013 and 8 billion by 2028. And, as people in developing countries attain higher levels of education and income, the demand for higher-quality food increases. The combined effect of population gains and income gains around the world is projected to increase the demand for food 55 percent by 2030.24
Much of the land best suited to agriculture is already under cultivation. To avoid converting marginal or fragile lands, technology is needed to increase yield per acre on land that is already cultivated, through improved pest resistance, stress tolerance, and nutrient utilization.25
Biotechnology and advances in breeding are helping agriculture achieve higher yields and meet the needs of an expanding population with limited land and water resources. Production of primary food and feed crops — corn, wheat, rice and oilseeds — has increased by 21 percent since 1995, while the total cropland devoted to these crops has increased by only 2 percent.26 The productivity gains that accounted for most of the increased production of these crops are also important for global food security and land conservation.
Monsanto predictions are for average soybean yields in the United States to increase from 43 bushels an acre in 2006 to 80 bushels an acre in 2030 — nearly doubling. Of this increase, about 50 percent will be due to biotechnology and 25 percent to molecular breeding improvements.
In corn, yields are expected to increase from 149 bushels an acre in 2006 to 300 bushels an acre in 2030. Of this, about 33 percent will to be due to biotechnology and 33 percent to molecular breeding improvements.
In both corn and soybeans, continued innovation in agricultural practices may contribute to yield gain, as well.
Over the next decade, biotechnology has the potential to deliver several beneficial products. These products may include plants that can tolerate stress from harsh conditions — such as arid or saline soils, cold environments, or low nutrient availability — and continue to produce food. Applied to areas that are not under stress conditions, these products have the potential to boost yield per acre with no changes to inputs.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY GAINS HELP ADDRESS LAND LIMITATIONS
If
there had been no productivity gains since 1995, more than 400 million acres
(160 million hectares) of new cropland would have been required to produce
the actual 2004 total of 2.34 million tons of primary crops. That is an area
larger than the cropland areas of the United States or China, or the entire
country of Mongolia.26
