Transgenic Crops in Argentina: The Ecological and Social Debt
01 Aug 2005-Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 25, Iss: 4, pp 314-322
TL;DR: The most important crop for Argentina is the soybean, with a planted surface that rose 11,000,000 hectares and a production of around 35, 000,000 metric tons.
Abstract: There is no doubt that soybean is the most important crop for Argentina, with a planted surface that rose 11,000,000 hectares and a production of around 35,000,000 metric tons. During the 1990s, there was a significant agriculture transformation in the country, motorize by the adoption of transgenic crops (soybean, maize, and cotton) under the no-tillage system. The expansion of this model has been spread not only in the Pampas but also in very rich areas with high biodiversity, opening a new agricultural border to important eco-regions like the Yungas, Great Chaco, and the Mesopotamian Forest. Transgenic cropping is a powerful technology. This produced relevant transformations over the environment and society where it is allowed. Migration, concentration of agribusiness, and loss of food sovereignty are some of the social results. Landscape transformation in the rural sector is evident, and the appearance of tolerance weeds to glyphosate is a reality. Nutrient depletion, soilstructure degradation, potential desertification, and loss of species are other consequences on the environmental level.
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TL;DR: The new conservation paradigm should incorporate a landscape approach in which small farmers, through their social organizations, work with conservationists to create a landscape matrix dominated by productive agroecological systems that facilitate interpatch migration while promoting a sustainable and dignified livelihood for rural communities.
Abstract: It is almost certainly the case that many populations have always existed as metapopulations, leading to the conclusion that local extinctions are common and normally balanced by migrations. This conclusion has major consequences for biodiversity conservation in fragmented tropical forests and the agricultural matrices in which they are embedded. Here we make the argument that the conservation paradigm that focuses on setting aside pristine forests while ignoring the agricultural landscape is a failed strategy in light of what is now conventional wisdom in ecology. Given the fragmented nature of most tropical ecosystems, agricultural landscapes should be an essential component of any conservation strategy. We review the literature on biodiversity in tropical agricultural landscapes and present evidence that many tropical agricultural systems have high levels of biodiversity (planned and associated). These systems represent, not only habitat for biodiversity, but also a high-quality matrix that permits the movement of forest organisms among patches of natural vegetation. We review a variety of agroecosystem types and conclude that diverse, low-input systems using agroecological principles are probably the best option for a high-quality matrix. Such systems are most likely to be constructed by small farmers with land titles, who, in turn, are normally the consequence of grassroots social movements. Therefore, the new conservation paradigm should incorporate a landscape approach in which small farmers, through their social organizations, work with conservationists to create a landscape matrix dominated by productive agroecological systems that facilitate interpatch migration while promoting a sustainable and dignified livelihood for rural communities.
540 citations
Cites background from "Transgenic Crops in Argentina: The ..."
...Furthermore, the expansion of Roundup -ready transgenic soybean production in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia (Kaimowitz & Smith 2001; Trigo & Cap 2003; Pengue 2005) may have devastating effects on the amphibian diversity of South America....
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TL;DR: Levels of glyphosate were determined in water, soil and sediment samples from a transgenic soybean cultivation area located near to tributaries streams of the Pergamino-Arrecifes system in the north of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
453 citations
Cites background from "Transgenic Crops in Argentina: The ..."
...A total of 95% of this area corresponds to a transgenic variety of glyphosate tolerant soybean, which is cultivated by direct sowing (Pengue, 2005)....
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TL;DR: The study clearly shows that consequential LCAs are quite easy to handle, even though it has been necessary to include production of palm oil, rapeseed and spring barley, as these production systems are affected by the soybean oil co-product.
Abstract: Background, Aim and Scope
Soybean meal is an important protein input to the European livestock production, with Argentina being an important supplier. The area cultivated with soybeans is still increasing globally, and so are the number of LCAs where the production of soybean meal forms part of the product chain. In recent years there has been increasing focus on how soybean production affects the environment. The purpose of the study was to estimate the environmental consequences of soybean meal consumption using a consequential LCA approach. The functional unit is ‘one kg of soybean meal produced in Argentina and delivered to Rotterdam Harbor’.
345 citations
Cites background from "Transgenic Crops in Argentina: The ..."
...The environmental impacts from soybean production have been addressed in several reports, e.g., Dros (2004), Pengue (2005) , Benbrook (2005) and Casson (2003)....
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TL;DR: The flows of energy and materials in the world economy have never been as large as they are today as discussed by the authors, and this increased metabolism causes more and more conflicts on resource extraction and waste disposa...
Abstract: 1The flows of energy and materials in the world economy have never been as large as they are today. This increased metabolism causes more and more conflicts on resource extraction and waste disposa...
192 citations
Cites background from "Transgenic Crops in Argentina: The ..."
...There are also many conflicts on the application of new technologies (cyanide in open pit gold mining, genetically modified organisms [GMOs,] nuclear energy) that distribute uncertain risks unfairly (EEA 2002; Pengue 2005; Pereira and Funtowicz 2009)....
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TL;DR: The main forest transitions that took place in south-central Chile from the end of the last glaciation to the present are reviewed in this paper with the aim of identifying the main climatic and socio-economic drivers of land cover change.
183 citations
Cites background from "Transgenic Crops in Argentina: The ..."
...Parallel trends are followed in other biodiversity-rich Latin American countries by the expansion of sugar cane, soja, olives and other crops (Fearnside, 2001; Pengue, 2005)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the placement and depth of fertilization is suggested to be considered together with the soil analysis, to avoid difficulties in fertilizer recommendations, and the results of biomass, yield and P uptake by the crop indicated that fertilization did not match the different native P availability.
Abstract: In Argentina, soybean has been cropped without fertilization, although soil phosphorus (P) contents have decreased. Areas earlier considered well supplied are at present P‐deficient. Our objective was to determine the native and fertilizer P uptake and its relationship with yields. A trial was carried out using soils with different P content. The fertilizer efficiency was quantified using 32P. The results of biomass, yield and P uptake by the crop indicated that fertilization did not match the different native P availability. From this behavior the placement of the fertilizer appeared to us as a possibility to be taken into account. The fertilized band is near the roots in the first growth stages; in the stages of higher P uptake rate, the roots are in contact with a soil mass with lower P availability. The placement and depth of fertilization is suggested to be considered together with the soil analysis, to avoid difficulties in fertilizer recommendations.
6 citations