Habitat and Biodiversity

The Environmental Impact of Cotton Production on Habitat and Biodiversity

The tremendous gains in production efficiency from modern technology now allow U.S. cotton growers to produce 50% more cotton on the same amount of land,ⁱ preserving habitat while promoting fiber and food security. In the United States insecticide use has been drastically reduced,ⁱⁱ thanks to biotechnology, the success of the boll weevil programⁱⁱⁱ and the extensive use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices in cotton production. Many of the remaining compounds that are used target specific pest, leaving beneficial insects unharmed.^iv This allows maintenance of diverse insect species, which preserves the food chain.^v In regards to transgenic production worldwide, ICAC reported that:

“Indirect significant benefits of the technology include improved populations of beneficial insects and wildlife in cotton fields, reduced pesticides runoff, and improved farm worker and neighbor safety as well as soil-related environmental improvements through changed tillage practices with herbicide tolerant varieties.”^vi

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References:

• ⁱ Based on average U.S. lint yields centered on 1974 and 2004 as reported in Appendix Table 6 of the Cotton and Wool Yearbook (Updated 11/2006) Stock # 89004, Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture
• ⁱⁱC.G. Sansone, RR. Minzenmayer & T.W. Fuchs. 1999. Impact of boll weevil eradication in the Southern Rolling Plains of Texas at the field level. Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conference 2:840-842.
• ⁱⁱⁱIn the US, based on data presented at http://www.msstate.edu/Entomology/Cotton.html, the number of insecticide applications have decreased by 50% in the last 10-years. The global reduction of the environmental impact of cotton due to insect and herbicide resistant cotton is documented in: Brooks, G, and P. Barfoot. 2005. GM Crops: The Global Economic and Environmental Impact—The First Nine Years 1996–2004. AgBioForum, 8(2&3): 187-196.
• ^ivJ. Carpenter, A Felsot, T. Goode, M. Hammig, D. Onstad, & S. Sankula. 2002. Comparative environmental impacts of biotechnology-derived and traditional soybean, corn and cotton crops. Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa
• ^vG. Head, W. Moar, M. Eubanks, G. Freeman, J. Ruberson, A. Hagerty, & S. Turnipseed. 2005. A multiyear, large-scale comparison of arthropod populations on commercially managed Bt and non-Bt cotton fields. Environmental Entomology 34:1257-1266. S.E. Naranjo, 2005a. Long-term assessment of the effects of transgenic Bt cotton on the abundance of non-target arthropod natural enemies. Environmental Entomology 34: 11-93-1210. S.E. Naranjo. 2005b. Long-term assessment of the effects of transgenic Bt cotton the function of the natural enemy community. Environmental Entomology 34: 1211-1223. M. G. Cattaneo, C. Yafuso, C Schmidt, C. Hyang, M. Rahman, C. Olson, C. Eller-Kirk, B.J. Orr, S.E. Marsh, L. Antilla, P. Dutilleul, & Y. Carriere. 2006. Farm-scale evaluation of the impacts of transgenic cotton on biodiversity, pesticide use, & Yield. PNAS 103(20):7571-7576.
• ^viICAC Report of the Second Expert Panel on the Biotechnology of Cotton. http://www.icac.org/cotton_info/tis/biotech/documents/expert_panel_2/english.html

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