Ever since the first commercialization of genetically modified (GM) crops in the mid-1990s, researchers have considered the impact of these new technologies on the economic and ecological footprint of farming. Nearly 25 years of peer-reviewed research of commercialized GM crops in adopting countries establishes that they contribute to yield increases and overall reduce chemical inputs. The result is that GM crops produce higher global farm incomes and the concomitant changes in land management practices and reductions in chemical use have delivered substantial environmental benefits. As the body of evidence grows, linkages can be established between the adoption of GM crops and their contributions to mitigating climate change.
Prior to herbicide tolerant crops, efficient in-crop weed control options were limited, resulting in farmers predominantly relying on the use of summerfallow for effective weed control. In dryland agricultural production, summerfallow practices resulted in significant soil erosion and loss, as well as reduced moisture conservation. GMHT crops drove the transition from the use of tillage as the lead form of weed control, to continuous, zero tillage land management practices.
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The article additionally estimates that the reduction in tillage practices and adoption of zero tillage has resulted in an extra 5.6 billion kg of carbon being sequestered in 2018, which is equivalent to 20.6 billion kg of CO2 not being released into the global atmosphere. These savings are equivalent to taking 13.6 million cars off the road for one year. Since 1996, an estimated 302 billion kg of CO2 has been sequestered as soil carbon.
