As far as agriculture is concerned, using genetically modified (GM) crops remains controversial, particularly in Europe. As per surveys, many people worry that these could have negative impacts on human health and the environment.
The expansion of the land area for agricultural production contributes significantly to tropical deforestation in Brazil. Image Credit: ZEF/University of Bonn.
A recent study illustrates that genetically modified crops can be good for the surroundings and the climate. Results indicate that the adoption of GM crops in the European Union (EU) could decrease greenhouse gas emissions significantly. The study by researchers from the Breakthrough Institute in the USA and the University of Bonn in Germany was recently reported in the journal Trends in Plant Science.
Agriculture accounts for nearly 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions across the world. A large share of these emissions is a result of livestock production and fertilizer use. But over one-third of agriculture’s emissions are caused by land-use change, particularly the transformation of forests and other nature reserves to agricultural land to meet the increasing global demand for food and feed.
Using better technologies to increase crop yields on the land already cultivated could reduce this land-use change and the associated emissions.
Dr Matin Qaim, Study Author, Professor and Director, Center for Development Research, University of Bonn
Few kinds of genetically modified crops—like GM soybean and maize—are grown extensively in other parts of the world, but barely in Europe.
“The main reasons are public acceptance issues and political hurdles,” stated Qaim.
In the new study, he and his collaborators from the Breakthrough Institute utilized global agricultural data and estimates of the yield effects of GM crops to model how increased technology adoption in the EU would impact land use, production, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The estimates indicate that extensive use of genetically modified crops in the EU could avoid the release of 33 million tons of CO2 equivalents, which matches 7.5% of the EU’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
Higher Yields in the EU Would Have a Global Effect
Most of these positive climate effects are attributable to reduced land-use change.
Dr Emma Kovak, Study First Author, Breakthrough Institute
The research group concludes, “The EU imports a lot of maize and soybean from Brazil, where the expansion of agricultural land contributes to tropical deforestation. Higher yields in the EU could reduce some of these imports and thus help preserve the Amazon rainforest.”
The authors emphasized that in their analysis they only considered already-existing genetically modified crops.
New genomic breeding technologies are currently being used to develop a wide range of new crop applications that could lead to additional climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits in the future.
Dr Matin Qaim, Study Author, Professor and Director, Center for Development Research, University of Bonn
Dr Matin Qaim, the agricultural economist, is a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Area named “Sustainable Futures” and Cluster of Excellence “PhenoRob—Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production” at the University of Bonn.
Journal Reference:
Kovak, E., et al. (2022) Genetically modified crops support climate change mitigation. Trends in Plant Science. doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2022.01.004.