Genetically modified (GM) crops are essential to agriculture.
At least that was the contention of Stuart Smyth, Assistant Professor & Research Chair in Agri-Food Innovations, University of Saskatchewan.
In the light of climate change “the big news is how can we be sustainable,” said Smyth during a presentation at the Sask Grains Expo last Wednesday as part of their Grain Millers Harvest Showdown in Yorkton. He called it “an underlying driving force in agriculture.”
Smyth said GM crops are one way to meet the challenge, and he pointed to the experience of canola as an example.
“GM canola was commercialized in the mid-‘90s,” said Smyth, adding that really changed how Canadian canola producers grow the crop.
That change included a growing range for the crop, and more acres being grown.
“A few years ago canola passed wheat in Saskatchewan as the leading crop by acres,” noted Smyth.
The growth in acres has more than a bigger crop of canola, suggested Smyth.
The move to GM canola has allowed producers to grow the crop under minimum and zero-till systems. A survey suggested only 11 per cent of canola was grown under such systems in 1999, said Smyth, adding that is now up to two-thirds of the crop.
Smyth said that reduces the number of passes for cultivation made when growing canola, which reduces fossil fuels used, and reduces tillage which releases carbon dioxide into the air.
The savings in terms of dollars is significant, near one billion from 2005-2007, said Smyth.
At the same time pre-planting chemical applications, those incorporated into the soil have also been reduced in favour of in crop applications which tend to have lower environmental impact.
Smyth said there is an Environmental Impact Quotient which quantifies the impact on workers, consumers and the ecology, and GM canals show an improvement over earlier varieties based on how the crop is managed based on its GM properties.
