In 2005, the impact in reduced carbon dioxide emissions was the equivalent of removing nearly 4 million average family cars from the road, said the study by Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot of PG Economics Ltd., a British consulting firm. The study was commissioned by Monsanto Co. of Creve Coeur, the world's leading provider of biotech crops, and published in the peer-reviewed journal AgBioForum.
Genetically modified, or GM, soybeans, corn, cotton and canola were planted on 215 million acres by 8.5 million farmers in 2005, the study said. These crops ward off certain pests and withstand applications of glyphosate herbicide, a weed killer that is less environmentally damaging than other chemicals.
The biggest environmental benefit of these crops, according to the study, comes when they are used to enable no-till farming. Growers who use that technique don't plow the ground; they plant through the organic material left from a prior crop.
Plowing allows naturally occurring carbon dioxide to escape into the air, contributing to greenhouse gas buildup.
Farmers in North and South America rapidly have adopted no-till farming in conjunction with GM crops, the study found. In 2005, this practice left in the ground 2.9 million kilograms of soil carbon that would have been released through plowing — an amount equal to the emissions of 3.6 million cars.....
Whole article: "www.checkbiotech.org":[ http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=news&doc_id=14607&start=1&control=206&page_start=1&page_nr=101&pg=1]
Geneticists create 'next generation' of GM crops -
Researchers have created what could be the next generation of transgenic crops by inserting a gene for herbicide resistance from a bacterium into plants (31.5.2007)
Biotech Acres: Global Biotech Plantings Show Double-Digit Growth for 10th Straight Year -
Biotech farm crops grew in 2006 by 13 percent over the previous year — the 10th straight year of double-digit increases, according to a new report from the nonprofit International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) (18.4.2007)
The evaluation and prevention of environmental and ecological risks related to introduction of genetically modified crops in the Czech Republic -
The project deals with the evaluation of environmental and ecological risks and benefits related to the introduction of genetically modified crops under conditions of the Czech Republic (8.2.2007)
