Print This PageBiotech Soybeans Spur No-Till Farming in U.S. and Environmental Benefits
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Sustainability Management 2009
Monsanto Mississippi River Partnership Project
Monsanto and CI Partner to Conserve Biodiversity
Biotech Soybeans Spur No-Till Farming in U.S.
Biotech Seeds Reduce Pesticides, Cut Emissions
Produce More
Helping farmers meet the needs of a growing planet.
Improve Farmers' Lives
Increasing incomes and standards of living.
Since 1966, ‘no-till’ farming has spread rapidly. Considered the most effective tillage system, the soil is left undisturbed from harvest to planting and residue is left on the surface. Agricultural experts link its increasing popularity to herbicide-tolerant biotech crops, like soybeans, cotton and canola. With crops like soybeans, farmers let weeds emerge with their crops. [1] Then they apply weed control products such as Roundup® agricultural herbicides to remove the weeds without harming the crop.
Curtailing tillage produces many environmental and economic benefits – from reducing soil and wind erosion and generating healthier soil to reducing fuel and equipment costs, lowering the runoff of chemicals into streams and reducing carbon dioxide releases into the atmosphere.
By one estimate, soybean growers have cut fuel use by nearly 1.3 gallons per acre with the Roundup Ready® soybean cropping system. And the American Soybean Association estimates that biotech seeds like Roundup Ready® soybeans saved 247 million tons of irreplaceable topsoil and 234 million gallons of fuel in 2000 alone. [2]
With Roundup Ready® soybeans, "it’s not just a small benefit to the environment…it really is huge," says U.S. soybean farmer Al Skogen, who uses Roundup® agricultural herbicide on his 6,000-acre farm. "It’s a great advantage to our water supply and a whole host of other things." Adds soybean farmer Jay Hardwick, "We’re seeing a new happening on the landscape in terms of wildlife emerging. It’s not only on top of it, but underneath. It’s just a real treat to see that."
1 Conservation Technology Information Center
2 ASA study confirms biotech benefits of biotech soybeans,” American Soybean Association, Nov. 12, 2001 news release.
