Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44JULY 2016 23 Ad Number: SEC_GER15_Cowan John Cowan CSTA Honorary Life Member We’re proud to have worked with you. Thanks for your contribution to the Canadian seed trade. Produced by: SeCan Product/Campaign: CSTA Congratulatory Date Produced: June 2015 Ad Number: SEC_GER15_Cowan Publication: Germination Trim: Quarter Page Vertical: 3.5” x 4.75” SEC_GER15_Cowan.qxd 6/3/15 12:39 PM Page 1 “Some of the same groups that oppose GMOs want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the potential for global warming,” he says. “The reality of it seems to be that you can’t have it both ways. If you want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, an important tool to do that is with GM traits.” GMOs and the Developing World The extra quarter-million acres of land that would have to be cultivated in the United States if GMOs were banned is sig- nificant but is minor when compared to the amount of extra farmland that would be needed on a global scale if GMOs were banned in the developing world. Matin Qaim, a professor of international food economics and rural development at the University of Göttingen in Germany, has studied GMO policy for 20 years. His book Genetically Modified Crops and Agricultural Development was released earlier this year. “If we banned GMOs worldwide, we would require around 25 million hectares, almost 62 million acres, of additional land to be taken into cultivation to make up for the production loss these crops currently produce,” Qaim says. “That’s huge. It’s double the cropland in Germany alone.” Qaim’s research examines the impact GM crops have had in developing nations, specifically Africa, South America, India and China. His research finds that GMOs are even more ben- eficial for farmers in the developing world than in developed nations. “The effects of a total GMO ban would be larger in developing countries, since the benefits are larger there,” he says. “When we look at Bt crops that provide resistance to insect pests, this is a technology that is particularly useful in areas where you have a lot of pest pressure.” “In the typical situations faced by small scale farmers in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Asia, you do have a lot of uncontrolled pest damage. Once farmers switch to those resistant crops, they are not only able to reduce pesticide use, but they also have more effective pest control, and that means higher yields.” If a Bt crop can boost yields in the United States by 10 per cent, in many other parts of the world including India, China, South and West Africa, farmers see yield gains of 30 to 40 per cent and sometimes higher than that, Qaim’s research shows. Take those GM crops away, and those benefits disappear as well, he says. It’s not just their yields that would suffer, though. “When they switch to growing GMOs, they suddenly have 50 to 60 per cent higher profits,” Qaim explains. “The reason for that is most of the GMOs are not patented in developing countries. “That means the seeds are relatively cheap, so farmers use them and gain most of the benefits. In the United States, a lot of these seeds are patented, which means some of the financial benefits are captured by the innovating companies.” Lower profits translate into a lower standard of living for farm- ers in the developing world if GM seeds are banned. Qaim’s research on Bt cotton in India tracked a sample of several hundred farmers for many years, and Bt adoption led to profit gains for these small farmers of 50 per cent. “They had more money to spend on food and other things, and overall, we found it contributed significantly to reducing poverty and reducing food insecurity by about 20 per cent among those growing cotton,” Qaim says. “GMOs have a real measurable impact on farmers’ livelihoods at the micro-level.” Tyner and his team are working on a GMO study that will take a more global look at what might happen if GMOs were banned. The global study will not only take yield declines into account, but will also factor in the effects of increased costs — which directly impact standard of living. “People tend to fight GMOs because they think only corpora- tions benefit, but Bt cotton provides a real-world example of small-scale farmers in India and China benefitting and lifting themselves out of poverty because of biotechnology,” Qaim adds. Marc Zienkiewicz