FACILITATING CONSERVATION FARMING PRACTICES AND ENHANCING ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY WITH AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

CTIC, with funding provided by the United Soybean Board, updated its 2003 publication on conservation tillage and biotechnology. CTIC's new publication, "Facilitating Conservation Farming Practices and Enhancing Environmental Sustainability with Agricultural Biotechnology", explores the environmental benefits of conservation tillage practices, which are facilitated significantly by biotechnology crops. The publication, reviewed by a panel of experts, shows the dramatic improvements in environmental sustainability and productivity over the past several years. Among many important statistics, the document describes:
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  • The projected growth of the global population to 9 billion by 2040
  • The 69 percent increase in no-till farming since the 1996 introduction of herbicide-resistant crops
  • A drop in herbicide usage of 47.4 million pounds of active ingredient where herbicide-tolerant soybeans or cotton were planted in the U.S. in 2007
  • The replacement of 8.67 million pound of insecticide active ingredient in 2007 where U.S. growers planted insect-resistant cotton and corn varieties
  • Reductions in soil loss of 90 percent or more, and  reduced movement of phosphorus by more than 70 percent where no-till is used
  • The capture of billions of pounds of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in conservation-tilled soils across the U.S.
 
Through this endeavor, CTIC produced a comprehensive resource on the links etwen biotechnology and conservation agriculture and successfully distributed the paper's findings and statistics to media, opinion leaders and representatives of agriculture.

Project Partner

United Soybean Board
 

Activities

The new publication was announced March 2010 at the Commodity Classic, where the authors were interviewed by numerous ag media- Corn & Soybean Digest, Successful Farming, Progressive Farmer, Farm Journal, DTN, Farm Progress, AgriMarketing and a host of others. CTIC created a dedicated web site for the publication and other agricultural biotech resources- www.ctic.org/BiotechSustainability. The web site also include audio interviews, an executive summary highlighting the information in the publication and the ability to download the
full publication.
 

For More Information

For more information, contact Tammy Taylor at 765-494-1814 or taylor@ctic.org.
 

Get Involved

Distribute copies of the free publication and executive summary to your colleagues and constituents Contact CTIC for printed copes or download from www.ctic.org/BiotechSustainability.

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