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Twenty-one years of using insect resistant (GM) maize in Spain and Portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions

This study assesses the economic and environmental impacts that have arisen from the adoption and use of genetically modified (GM) insect resistant (IR) maize in Spain and Portugal in the 21 years since first planted in Spain in 1998. A total of 1.65 million hectares have been planted to maize conta...

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Autor principal: Brookes, Graham
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6615534/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31072184
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2019.1614393
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author Brookes, Graham
author_facet Brookes, Graham
author_sort Brookes, Graham
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description This study assesses the economic and environmental impacts that have arisen from the adoption and use of genetically modified (GM) insect resistant (IR) maize in Spain and Portugal in the 21 years since first planted in Spain in 1998. A total of 1.65 million hectares have been planted to maize containing these traits since 1998, with farmers benefiting from an increase in income of €285.4 million. For every extra €1 spent on this seed relative to conventional seed, farmers have gained an additional €4.95 in extra income. These income gains have mostly arisen from higher yields (+11.5% across the two countries using the technology). The seed technology has reduced insecticide spraying by 678,000 kg of active ingredient (−37%) and, as a result, decreased the environmental impact associated with herbicide and insecticide use on these crops (as measured by the indicator, the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ)) by 21%. The technology has also facilitated cuts in fuel use, resulting in a reduction in the release of greenhouse gas emissions from the GM IR maize cropping area and contributed to saving scarce water resources.
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spelling pubmed-66155342020-05-10 Twenty-one years of using insect resistant (GM) maize in Spain and Portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions Brookes, Graham GM Crops Food Research Paper This study assesses the economic and environmental impacts that have arisen from the adoption and use of genetically modified (GM) insect resistant (IR) maize in Spain and Portugal in the 21 years since first planted in Spain in 1998. A total of 1.65 million hectares have been planted to maize containing these traits since 1998, with farmers benefiting from an increase in income of €285.4 million. For every extra €1 spent on this seed relative to conventional seed, farmers have gained an additional €4.95 in extra income. These income gains have mostly arisen from higher yields (+11.5% across the two countries using the technology). The seed technology has reduced insecticide spraying by 678,000 kg of active ingredient (−37%) and, as a result, decreased the environmental impact associated with herbicide and insecticide use on these crops (as measured by the indicator, the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ)) by 21%. The technology has also facilitated cuts in fuel use, resulting in a reduction in the release of greenhouse gas emissions from the GM IR maize cropping area and contributed to saving scarce water resources. Taylor & Francis 2019-05-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6615534/ /pubmed/31072184 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2019.1614393 Text en © 2019 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
spellingShingle Research Paper
Brookes, Graham
Twenty-one years of using insect resistant (GM) maize in Spain and Portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions
title Twenty-one years of using insect resistant (GM) maize in Spain and Portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions
title_full Twenty-one years of using insect resistant (GM) maize in Spain and Portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions
title_fullStr Twenty-one years of using insect resistant (GM) maize in Spain and Portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions
title_full_unstemmed Twenty-one years of using insect resistant (GM) maize in Spain and Portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions
title_short Twenty-one years of using insect resistant (GM) maize in Spain and Portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions
title_sort twenty-one years of using insect resistant (gm) maize in spain and portugal: farm-level economic and environmental contributions
topic Research Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6615534/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31072184
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21645698.2019.1614393
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