ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACTS OF
AGRICULTURE

INDEX
Introduction
Land
Insecticide
Herbicide
Tillage
Water

INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is facing the challenge of feeding an increasing global
population while natural resources are shrinking due to a combination of
factors. Many feel that biotech crops can contribute to meeting global
food needs by improving agricultural productivity. Yet, the potential risks
associated with the cultivation of biotech crops should be accurately
evaluated and managed. The baseline in evaluating those risks should be
a good knowledge of the impacts and footprints of the current agricultural
systems. Current practices such as tillage, water use, intercropping, crop
rotation, grazing and extensive usage of pesticides affect the biodiversity
of agricultural fields as well as the environment outside of fields.
This subsection gives a brief overview on these impacts and discusses the
potential benefits expected from the utilization of the new biotech crops.

LAND
By occupying 40% of the land surface, agriculture is currently a major land-use and is the main factor
contributing to losses in biodiversity. Approximately 13 million hectares of biodiversity-rich forests are
lost in developing countries annually . This situation will likely worsen in the near future as the global
population must be fed and biofuel feedstocks additionally produced. The pressure to increase the area
of land under cultivation will grow more and more important. Climate change also is expected to
accelerate many pressures on the wild environment, as long-established production systems become
destabilized and abiotic stress (such as water shortages, salinity, aridity and heat) are increased.
Therefore, it is critical to increase agricultural productivity per unit of land in order to reduce land
conversion and biodiversity erosion. Genetic engineering technology has a great potential to contribute
increasing that productivity and help reduce deforestation and loss of biodiversity in forests. James
estimates that during the period 1996 to 2007 biotech crops have already precluded the need for an
additional area of 43 million hectares of crop land.
Many studies across the world have reported on yield increases after the deployment of biotech crops.
For example, from 1996 to 2006, average yield increases in the areas planted to biotech insect
resistant traits was +5.7% for corn and +11.1% for cotton . James (2009) reported that in 2008 Bt
cotton yield increased by 31% in India and by 9.6%, in China; Bt maize resulted in an 11% higher yield
in South Africa in 2005. Other data indicate a 31% average yield increases with herbicide tolerant
soybeans in Romania, 15% increase with herbicide tolerant corn in the Philippines and more than 50%
with insect resistant cotton in India.

INSECTICIDES
Pests cause a loss of 40% of agricultural production worldwide, despite strategies and
measures carried out to control them (Pimentel, 1998). Insects alone destroy annually
about 25% of food crops worldwide. For instance, the European corn borer (the larvae
of Ostrinia nubilalis) can destroy up to 20% of a maize crop. In Africa, losses in
agricultural production due to pests can reach 100% depending upon the agroecological zones.
Thus, huge amounts of synthetic pesticides are used every year to control agricultural
insects around the world. Those chemicals not only have serious impacts on the
environment but also can cause harm to human health. Every year, thousands people
are poisoned by agricultural pesticides worldwide, mostly in developing countries.
Biotech crop cultivation has been shown to help reduce insecticide use in agriculture.
Bt cotton cultivation, for instance, reduced insecticide use in India by 39% in 2008 and
by 60% in China (James, 2009). A cost reduction of about 60% in insecticide use has
been observed in South Africa due to Bt maize. In the West African country Burkina
Faso, Bt cotton has reduced number of pesticide treatments from six or eight a year to
one or two, while boosting production by 30% .

Why are Bt crops resistant to insects?

Bt crops have been transformed by adding a
bacterial gene from Bacillus thuringiensis
that produces Bt toxins. Those toxins affect
specific groups of insects including
lepidopterans and coleopterans. Bacillus
thuringiensis is a bacteria naturally living in
the soil. The engineered plants can produce
Bt toxin on their own, and this allows them
to defend themselves against specific types
of insects. Consequently, farmers can use
less chemical insecticides to control certain
insects.

HERBICIDES
In intensively managed agricultural systems, large amounts of the herbicides are annually
used by farmers to control weeds. Many groups of herbicides are available including the
chlorophenoxy acid herbicides which are selective for the angiosperm plants, the triazine
herbicides used mostly to protect corn, apple, grapes, wheat; the thiocarbamates which are
generally used as graminicides applied to soil before emergence of crops, to protect maize,
rice, sorghum, sugar beets, soybean and the organic phosphorus herbicides including
glyphosate, a non selective herbicide.
Broadcast spraying of herbicides can have negative consequences on the environment
through different pathways. Drift of the herbicide beyond the intended spray site, for
instance, can cause offsite damage to susceptible vegetation. Herbicides also result in
reduced habitats and food for non-target organisms such as birds and mammals, especially
when these herbicides are applied in forestry that the residual herbicides commonly used for
corn and soybean production have been detected in rivers, streams, and reservoirs at
concentrations exceeding the U.S. maximum contaminant levels or health advisory levels
for drinking water.

Among the herbicides, glyphosate is the one most widely used both in agriculture and
forestry. Its values include a low toxicity to animals, a rapid adsorption to soil particles
reducing movement in the environment and a low persistence due to a rapid degradation by
soil microbes. It has been used commercially in the United States for over 35 years.
Glyphosate is a nonselective herbicide that kills annual and perennial plants including both
weed and crop species.
Through genetic engineering, biotech crops have been developed that carry a gene which
allows plants to tolerate glyphosate so that they are no longer killed. The use of glyphosate
resistant biotech crops has the potential to reduce the use of the other more harmful
herbicides and thereby reduce their negative effects on the environment, particularly in
developed countries where agriculture greatly relies on herbicide use. Such a reduction has
already reached 17 million of kg per year in the United States. Also, replacing the more
harmful herbicides with glyphosate can help reduce the amounts of dissolved herbicide
concentrations in runoff.

TILLAGE
Tillage or plowing can increase soil erosion and cause soil loss all around
the world. These practices also demand fuel consumption, which
contributes to the increased carbon dioxide emissions which are
responsible for the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Reduced tillage has been shown to be environmentally beneficial by
reducing soil erosion, increasing its moisture content and nutrient richness,
and leading to favorable conditions for soil organisms and wildlife. Reduced
tillage also contributes to decreases in the level of pollution by smoke and
carbon dioxide release through reduced consumption of fuel.
No-till hectarage has increased rapidly in the USA and Argentina through
the cultivation of transgenic herbicide tolerant soybean and cotton since
the beginning in 1996.

WATER
Agriculture consumes approximately 70% of the worlds fresh water that is
withdrawn for human use. This demand for water is expected to increase
dramatically as the world population is growing and will reach 9.2 billion by 2050.
At the same time, global climate change is predicted to result in increased risks of
water shortage and desertification. Water shortages are already costing billions of
dollars a year in crop shortfalls around the world, and are likely to grow more costly.
Given that drought is the single most important constraint to increased productivity
for crops worldwide, efforts are underway to develop biotech drought tolerant
crops. This drought tolerance trait is viewed as the most important biotech trait
that will be used in the second decade of commercialization 2006 2015. Maize will
be the first biotech drought crop to be commercialized, likely in 2012 in USA and by
2017 in Sub Saharan Africa. Drought is the most important constraint of African
agriculture severely affecting maize, the most important African staple food crop.