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Plant biotechnology: Potential impact for improving pest management in European agriculture: A summary of nine case studies

AgNet, 4 December 2003

Biotechnology shows promise for Europe: 'Plant biotechnology: Potential impact for improving pest management in European agriculture'

National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, http://www.ncfap.org/
Via AgBioView at www.agbioworld.org

According to a study published on December 1st by the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP), the cultivation of six genetically engineered crops in Europe would lead to higher farmers' income, reduced pesticide sprayings, as well as higher yields. The current publication is part of a larger study which will end in June 2004 and cover 15 different crops. The first three case studies were already published in June 2003. The study is co-financed by the industry.

PARIS (December 1, 2003) -- Biotechnology could help control plant diseases, weeds and insect pests, which cause European farmers to suffer losses and use intense farming methods, resulting in more food production at lower costs and with less use of pesticides, according to a comprehensive study released today.

The nine case studies compiled by the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP) document that crops developed through biotechnology can help European farmers reap an additional 8.5 billion kilograms (19 billion pounds) of food and improve farm income over €1.6 billion, while using 14.4 million fewer kilograms (32 million pounds) of pesticide.

"New technologies like biotech crops can keep farmers competitive in an ever-changing global market," says Leonard Gianessi, program director for NCFAP, a nonprofit, Washington, D.C.-based research organization. "The potential impacts for Europe have not been quantified in this way before." NCFAP released three case studies earlier this year. Today, six more were added, totaling nine. The case studies, which include insect resistant, herbicide tolerant, virus resistant and fungal resistant varieties, show that crops like virus resistant stone fruit (peaches, apricots and plums) could save the industry in certain parts of Italy, Austria, Spain, Greece and many other growing areas while crops like herbicide tolerant wheat could reduce pesticide use by 1.4 million kilograms.

Previous case studies show that crops like insect resistant corn, currently planted in Spain on a small scale, have the potential to increase yields in Europe by 1.9 billion kilograms (4.2 billion pounds). Meanwhile, crops like biotech virus resistant tomatoes could allow production of the San Marzano tomato to continue in the Campania region of Italy, which is a variety of particular pride. "These case studies show every country stands to benefit from development of the new varieties evaluated in this study," Gianessi says.

NCFAP researchers say that France would see the greatest production increase at 2.6 billion kilograms (5.7 billion pounds), while Italy would see the greatest increase in income with a €474 million euro change closely followed by France, which would see income increase by over €300 million euro. Pesticide use would also go down, with French growers seeing the largest impact, a reduction of 3.2 million kilograms. "In these nine cases, biotechnology provides equivalent or better control of harmful pests at reduced costs." Gianessi said.

The release of the six case studies is the second in a series that NCFAP will complete in the next year. The complete study will include 15 case studies of fruits, vegetables and field crops where biotechnology solutions to major pest problems in Europe are under development.

Specifically, the six new case studies show:

  • European wheat yields are the highest in the world due to use of modern technology including herbicides. Herbicide tolerant wheat could reduce weed control costs by €90 million.

  • Recent U.K. Farm Scale Evaluations (FSE) determined that biotech herbicide tolerant rapeseed would improve weed control. The FSE experiments did not estimate the impacts on weed control costs and rapeseed yield. NCFAP estimates a yield increase of six per cent and a cost reduction of 25 per cent.

  • In Europe, recent bans of the popular maize herbicide atrazine have resulted in tremendous production cost increases. Biotech herbicide tolerant maize could lower costs by €15 per hectare.

  • Weed control in rice can require up to 20 kilograms of herbicides per hectare, at a cost of €200 per hectare. Biotech varieties could achieve equivalent weed control with as little as one kilogram of active ingredient while reducing costs by 50 per cent.

  • The Sharka virus has led to the destruction of millions of European stone fruit trees. Virus resistant trees developed in Austria could prevent losses of over 160 million kilograms annually.

  • Mediterranean tomato production is threatened by insect-spread viruses, leading to broad use of insecticides. Virus-resistant tomatoes developed in Italy could prevent viral infections and lead to significant reductions in insecticide use.

The case studies, which were reviewed by plant biotechnology experts from European academic and government institutions, are the most comprehensive evaluation of the potential impact on European agriculture of crops developed through biotechnology. The complete case studies are available on the Internet at www.ncfap.org. Monsanto, Syngenta, BIO and EuropaBio funded the project.

The National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy is a private, nonprofit, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C. Originally established in 1984 at Resources for the Future, the center became an independent organization in 1992. NCFAP researchers conduct studies in four program areas: biotechnology, pesticides, U.S. farm and food policy, and international trade and development.

For more information http://www.ncfap.org/europe.htm or pace@ncfap.org

AgNet, 3 December 2003

Plant biotechnology: Potential impact for improving pest management in European agriculture: A summary of nine case studies

Agricultural Biotechnology Council, http://www.abcinformation.org/news_display.php?news_id=82
For the complete report of the following see: http://www.ncfap.org/reports/Europe/ExecutiveSummaryDecember.pdf

Key Findings

The widespread adoption of plant biotechnology in maize, oilseed rape, wheat, rice, tomatoes, potatoes, sugarbeets and stone fruit in Europe would result in significant yield increases, savings for growers and pesticide use reductions. All together, the nine biotech crops would increase yields by 8.5 billion kilograms per year, increase grower net income by 1.6 billion Euro per year and reduce pesticide use by 14.4 million kilograms per year, compared with existing practices that would be replaced. Of these six new case studies, the biotech tomato offers the greatest yield and grower income increase while herbicide tolerant maize would result in the largest pesticide use reduction. Introduction

Crop biotechnology has been widely discussed for the past decade. While the United States has planted millions of acres with genetically modified crops, in Europe, only Spain has any commercial biotech acres. The European Union and European countries are considering a variety of biotechnology regulations while a moratorium on approval of new biotech crops maintains the status quo. Questions remain about the potential impacts on agricultural production if biotech crops were to be commercialized in Europe.

Although a number of researchers have released studies of the potential impact of certain biotech crops in individual countries, no single study has used a consistent methodology to estimate multi-crop biotech adoption in multiple European countries.

In 2002, the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP) released a study that estimated the current and potential impacts of biotechnology in the United States by examining 40 case studies to project economic impacts for 47 states. The study focused on biotech crops that would improve pest management for weeds, insects and plant diseases. During the research, NCFAP noted that many of the same crop pests were present in Europe and that European researchers were testing biotech crops for managing the pests. NCFAP received funds from Monsanto, Syngenta, EuropaBio and BIO to estimate the potential impacts of biotech crops on European agriculture. NCFAP’s proven methodology and strong ties to European researchers made it an ideal organization to conduct the first comprehensive study of how biotechnology could impact European agriculture.

In June 2003, NCFAP released the first three case studies to estimate the potential impact of biotechnology in Europe. These initial case studies are included herein as well as an additional six case studies that NCFAP researchers have recently completed.

Methodology

The same methodology that NCFAP researchers used in its U.S. study is employed in the European study. Case studies have been selected based on information that successful transformation of a crop has occurred and for which there are at least preliminary results for pest management purposes under European conditions. For each case study, NCFAP reviewed scientific literature, internet web sites and data from university and government research facilities. NCFAP interviewed European researchers who are testing biotech varieties, and they provided summaries of their research. NCFAP quantified the current use of pesticides, crop losses and costs of managing each pest problem in several countries by crop. Researchers estimated the acreage on which the biotech crop would be planted based on comparison of growers’ costs.

Economic impacts were analyzed in three categories: estimated changes in yield, changes in production value and changes in production costs, which were used to calculate changes in net income. Pesticide use changes were also calculated. Written case study analyses were sent to outside reviewers for comment. The reviewers’ comments were incorporated into the case study reports.