enero de 2003
The Adoption of Transgenic Crops in Argentine Agriculture, An Open Ended Story
The intensification of agricultural production in Argentina during the 1990s constitutes, without a doubt, one of the positive impacts stemming from the structural reforms and economic policies implemented at the beginning of that decade.
The elimination of taxes and withholdings on agricultural exports; the substantial reduction of import tariffs on inputs and capital goods; and the Convertibility Plan and deregulation of some markets, all created favourable macroeconomic conditions and paved the way for a large expansion of production volumes for cereals and oilseeds (from 26 million tonnes in 1988–1989 to over 67 million in 2000–2001), and particularly for soybeans, which soon became Argentina’s leading export. The increase in export value occurred within a context of erratic international prices and in the face of competition with other countries which, unlike Argentina, profit from government subsidies to production and exports.
This growth in agricultural production is a result of both a substantial expansion of the planted area (basically at the expense of livestock), and an incremental increase in physical productivity per unit area, derived from a significant adoption of new technologies. By dint of such an increase in the planted area, the Pampas agricultural sector succeeded in reversing labour dismissal trends observable over the last years, and went on to generate nearly 200,000 jobs from 1993 to 1999. The process of adopting technologies involves the procurement of capital goods, fertilizers and agrochemicals (herbicides and pesticides) as well as a momentous change in terms of genetic inputs: the introduction of transgenic crops in Argentine agriculture.
In 1996, the first transgenic crop was commercially released into the Argentine market and was a soybean tolerant to glyphosate herbicide. Later on, transgenic varieties of corn and cotton tolerant to herbicides and resistant to insects were approved.
As from its release date, the rate of expansion of glyphosate-tolerant soybean in Argentina has increased considerably, and has exhibited a growth even higher than the one in the U.S., which was the first country to introduce this kind of crop. The area planted to herbicide-tolerant soybean shot up from less than one per cent of the total area planted to soybeans, in the 1996–1997 season, to more than 90 per cent (around nine million hectares) in the 2000–2001 season.
The adoption of Lepidoptera-resistant corn has also been of significance —yet with values lower than those observed for soybeans—accounting for 20 per cent of the total cultivated area during the last farming season (third year since its introduction). The diffusion of Bt cotton has, in turn, been very limited, amounting to 7–8.5 per cent of the total planted area. At present, Argentina ranks second, only to the U.S., in terms of agricultural surface cultivated with transgenic crops and is therefore a major player in the international arena.
Regarding the environmental impact of the sharp increase of Argentine agricultural production during the last decade, the main issue to be considered is the fact that this expansion has taken place hand in hand with the outstanding increase of no-till (NT) practices, as the main farming management strategy for the Pampas crops.1
The use of the no-till planting system rose from approximately 300,000 hectares in the 1990–1991 period to over nine million hectares in the 2000–2001 season. This technology constituted an important factor in the expansion of production, as it promoted the increase of the area cultivated with late planted soybean (planted after the wheat harvest) to new production areas. During the 1999–2000 season, for example, this was translated into a virtual increment of three million hectares of arable land.
However, the most important aspect of the widespread adoption of no-till techniques, coupled with the introduction of transgenic soybean, is the “virtuous intensification” or “environmentally friendly” nature it has bestowed upon the process of technological change.
The combination of no-till planting techniques with herbicide-tolerant soybean joins two technological concepts: new mechanical technologies that modify crop interaction with the soil and the utilization of general-use, full range herbicides (with glyphosate in first place), which are environmentally neutral, due to their high effectiveness in controlling any kind of weed as well as their lack of residual effect. Both factors imply a more intense use of inputs. However, as pointed out in Chapter III (Figure III-6) and Chapter V (Table V-1), this intensification is, at the same time, deemed “virtuous,” because it has simultaneously lowered the consumption of herbicides with the highest toxicity level.