Biotech Crops + Conservation Tillage =
Substantial Environmental Benefits

A new study by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) “Conservation Tillage and Plant Biotechnology: How New Technologies Can Improve the Environment by Reducing the Need to Plow”, indicates no-till crop acres have increased 35 percent since the advent of biotech crops in 1996 to a total of more than 55 million acres today. Conservation tillage, a practice of reducing soil cultivation to minimize the loss of precious topsoil, produces far-reaching benefits to farmers, society and nature. But, as the report indicates, further adoption of biotechnology is still needed to maximize the utilization of conservation tillage and harvest its full environmental benefit. Consider the following:

• 63 percent of soybean growers who reduced their tillage since 1996 cited herbicide-tolerant technology as the key factor in doing so. As the adoption of these biotech crops continue and more acres are converted to no-till, significant environmental benefits will be derived.

• Conservation tillage and the Conservation Reserve Program reduce soil erosion caused by water and wind by almost 1 billion tons per year, an improvement of 30 percent since the early 1980s when traditional plowing practices were more common.

• With conservation tillage, a layer of plant residue protects the soil’s surface, preventing soil erosion and increasing the soils’ ability to absorb moisture. That prevents runoff of sediment into streams, which can cloud water and cover gravel beds needed by fish and crustaceans as habitat.

• Reduced soil erosion results in less sediment polluting water – saving Americans an estimated $3.5 billion in 2002 in water treatment and storage, waterway maintenance, navigation, flooding and recreation costs, and resulting in cleaner, more affordable drinking water for consumers.

• Farmers are saving more than 309 million gallons of fuel per year with conservation tillage methods, which reduce greenhouse gases released from burning fuel by more than 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

• Conservation tillage dramatically improves agricultural land as habitat for wildlife. Earthworm populations are three to six times higher in a no-till field than in a field that’s plowed, while quail can find their daily food in about one-fifth the time in a no-till field as in a field farmed with conventional tillage.