Access to maps of biotech crops on a county and township level will
give researchers greater ability to analyze the effects of biotech crops on
wildlife, water quality, and on pest and beneficial insects.
"Since 1996 more than a billion acres have been planted with biotech
crops in the U.S.," said Michelle Marvier of Santa Clara University in
Calif. "We don't really know what are the pros and cons of this important
new agricultural technology."
"People on both sides of the debate about genetically engineered crops
have been making a lot of claims," said Marvier, an associate professor of
biology and environmental studies. "One side has been saying that biotech
crops reduce insecticide use, reduce tillage and therefore the erosion of
top soil. People on the other side say that biotech crops could hurt native
species."

The scientists' call will be published as a Policy Forum in the April
25, 2008, issue of the journal Science. Marvier's co-authors are Yves
Carri?re and Bruce Tabashnik of The University of Arizona in Tucson; Norman
Ellstrand of the University of California at Riverside; Paul Gepts of the
University of California at Davis; Peter Kareiva of Santa Clara University
and The Nature Conservancy; Emma Rosi-Marshall of Loyola University in
Chicago; and L. LaReesa Wolfenbarger of the University of Nebraska in Omaha.

The article, Harvesting Data from Genetically Engineered Crops, has a
map showing the distribution of crop fields in Arizona township by township.

Tabashnik, UA head and professor of entomology, said, "Putting
Arizona's biotech cotton on the map has allowed us to be a leader in
assessing the environmental impacts of biotech crops."

In Arizona, a unique collaboration between researchers and farmers has
made detailed crop data available to researchers at The University of
Arizona.

Tabashnik said, "It's a win-win situation. We analyze data they
collect, so they can control pests better and make more money. It helps us
obtain fundamental information about what's going on in the field that we
could never get without them."

One of the UA's analyses showed that adoption of biotech cotton in
Arizona helped to reduce insecticide use while sustaining yields.

Carri?re, a UA professor of entomology who has done many of the
analyses, said, "You have to protect the privacy of the farmers. We've done
it in Arizona, so why not do it across the country?"

To start examining those questions in other parts of the U.S., the
team of scientists call for the government to make available data it is
already collecting.

At the present time, the team writes, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture collects data at the scale of individual farms, but the data are
only available to researchers at the scale of entire states. Answering key
questions about the environmental impacts of genetically engineered crops
requires finer spatial resolution.

"The analyses could be about quality of water, quality of soil,
non-target effects, regional population density of pests and economic
aspects such as yield improvement," said Carri?re. "The findings could be
useful to a wide range of people."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture?s National Agricultural Statistical
Service annually collects data documenting acreage planted to various crops
in all 50 states, the researchers write in their paper. In addition, the
NASS annually interviews more than 125,000 farmers about their land use and
the acreage planted in various biotech crops.

Tabashnik said, "We're already spending the money to have these data
collected. Let's make them available in the right format for researchers to
use. It would be a relatively inexpensive additional step with enormous
scientific and public benefit."


[uanews.org]