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The global use of genetically modified crops, which allows farmers to plant
using less herbicide and without tilling the soil, is significantly reducing
greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study, March 2007 by Rachel
Melcer.

In 2005, the impact in reduced carbon dioxide emissions was the equivalent
of removing nearly 4 million average family cars from the road, said the
study by Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot of PG Economics Ltd., a British
consulting firm. The study was commissioned by Monsanto Co. of Creve Coeur,
the world's leading provider of biotech crops, and published in the
peer-reviewed journal AgBioForum.

Genetically modified, or GM, soybeans, corn, cotton and canola were planted
on 215 million acres by 8.5 million farmers in 2005, the study said. These
crops ward off certain pests and withstand applications of glyphosate
herbicide, a weed killer that is less environmentally damaging than other
chemicals.

The biggest environmental benefit of these crops, according to the study,
comes when they are used to enable no-till farming. Growers who use that
technique don't plow the ground; they plant through the organic material
left from a prior crop.

Plowing allows naturally occurring carbon dioxide to escape into the air,
contributing to greenhouse gas buildup.

Farmers in North and South America rapidly have adopted no-till farming in
conjunction with GM crops, the study found. In 2005, this practice left in
the ground 2.9 million kilograms of soil carbon that would have been
released through plowing ? an amount equal to the emissions of 3.6 million
cars.

"No-till farming is nothing new. Farmers have been trying (it) for many
years," Brookes said. But the approach doesn't work well with conventional
crops, leading many growers to abandon it.

Further carbon dioxide savings come from reduced use of fossil-fuel-burning
farm vehicles. The reduction includes the use of plow equipment, as well as
vehicles used to spray pesticides needed on conventional crops.

Since their introduction in 1996, GM crops have saved farmers 441 million
gallons of fuel, which led to a 4.6 billion kilogram reduction in carbon
dioxide emissions, the study said.

Vic Miller, chairman of the U.S. Grains Council, to which Monsanto and other
biotech seed companies belong, said he's impressed with the results. He's
been using GM crops on his 3,600-acre Iowa corn and soybean farm since 1996.

"It's put more money on my bottom line, year after year. And it's allowed me
to reduce chemical and pesticide use in my operation," he said. "I'm one of
the first environmentalists, because I have to live there. I drink the water
and walk on the soil, and I don't appreciate having to use products that
have the skull and crossbones on them."

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