There may be more to this latest story (below) from Brazil than indicated,
given a earlier report in New Scientist in 1999.

According to that report very hot weather can cause crop losses of up to 40
percent in Monsanto's GM herbicide-resistant soya. In findings described to
a meeting of the British Crop Protection Council, Bill Vencill of the
University of Georgia reported that stems of virtually all the Monsanto
plants split open, unlike most varieties grown in hot climates (New
Scientist 20 November 99 -
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Monsanto-RR-Soy-Cracking.htm ).

"It has the potential to be quite a problem ...We saw lower heights, yields
and weights in the Monsanto beans.''

According to New Scientist plants carrying these genetic alterations have
been shown to produce up to 20 per cent more lignin, the tough, woody form
of cellulose. Vencill says that the bacterial enzyme that imparts resistance
to glyphosate affects a major metabolic pathway in the plant, and has the
side effect of sending lignin production 'into overdrive'. Previously it had
been thought that plants on farms affected in this way had been subject to
fungal attack. "We think it might make the plants more brittle."

If GM soya is less productive in drought conditions then this is not the
technology for a humanity faced with increasing risks of global warming.
Note that this characteristic of GM soya arose as an unintended side effect
from this 'precision' technology.

In fact, according to research at the University of Nebraska the genetic
modification has an adverse effect on yields even in non-drought conditions
( http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/gmnebraskasoycomment.htm ;
http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/elmoresoyastudy.htm ).

GM technology - starving the world?

NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX
nlpwessex@btinternet.com
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex
Tearing Down Biotech's 'Berlin Wall'
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/genomicsparadigm.htm
The Acceptable Face Of Ag-biotech
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/monsantoMASpossibilities.htm
=================================================================

www.soyatech.com/bluebook/news/viewarticle.ldml?a=20050404-5

GM soy hit harder by Brazil's drought than conventional varieties
Date Posted: 4/4/2005

English IPS News via NewsEdge Corporation : RIO DE JANEIRO -- Drought in
southern Brazil has reduced this year's important soybean harvest
dramatically in Rio Grande do Sul state -- and added fuel to the heated
national debate about transgenic crops.

Genetically modified (GM) soy, which accounts for the majority of soybean
production in the southern state, suffered greater losses than conventional
soy varieties, according to reports by local growers.

That is to be expected, says Narciso Barison, president of APASSUL, a state
association of seed producers, because transgenic seeds are smuggled into
Brazil from Argentina and are not intended for the local climate, so have
proved less resistant to the water shortage.

The conventional varieties, developed by national Brazilian agencies,
certified and adapted to the region, had better results. The differences in
crop loss varied according to the conditions of each field, reaching "a
maximum of 25 percent" for non-GM soy, he said.

The U.S.-based agribusiness giant Monsanto, which developed a GM soybean
resistant to its glyphosate herbicide -- thus increasing potential sales of
both products -- rejects the comparison of its transgenic variety with the
local conventional varieties.

"The intensity of the drought does not allow us to verify differences in
yields," said Ricardo Miranda, Monsanto development director in Brazil.

"No soybean variety can withstand that level of hydric stress," which in
some areas caused losses of 80 percent of the crop, he said.

There are two more factors, according to Miranda, that determine the
performance of transgenics in drought conditions: the GM variety facilitates
and promotes direct planting -- no need for tilling so the soil retains more
moisture -- and allows greater control of weeds, which otherwise compete
with the crop for the scarce water available.

The drought that has dragged on for five months in Rio Grande do Sul is
harshly punishing soybeans, which are planted primarily in October and
November.

The governmental rural technical assistance and extension agency, EMATER,
calculated a 61 percent decline in the average yield of soybean fields in
the state, falling from an expected 2,007 kgs per hectare to just 782. As
such, the predicted 8.3 million tonnes of soybeans from the harvest will be
only around 3.2 million tonnes.

Monsanto's RR (Roundup Ready) soy seed began to be smuggled into the state
almost 10 years ago, and its presence grew to 80 percent of the total area
planted with soy, according to assessments that for obvious reasons cannot
be exact.

In the last two years, faced with a fait accompli, the government tried to
grant temporary legal status to the banned transgenic soy through a court
ruling made in 1999.

Now, with the Biosecurity Act approved by the Brazilian Congress on Mar. 2,
a definitive solution is sought for the legal uncertainties surrounding the
use of biotechnology in agriculture in this country.

Clandestine cultivation of GM seed and the legal confusion of recent years
produced a critical situation for soy seed producers in Rio Grande do Sul.
The local companies were pushed out of the market by the growing presence of
contraband transgenic seed, which they themselves could not legally produce.

Now that the drought has "proved" the advantages of the varieties created
for the local climate and soil conditions, there should be a race by the soy
farmers for certified Brazilian seed, but there are not enough stocks to
supply the market, said Barison.

The multiplication of transgenic seed to meet demand throughout Rio Grande
do Sul state would require three years, and the conventional (non-GM)
varieties are currently insufficient as a result of the low demand in recent
years.

As a result, soy production in Rio Grande do Sul, which represents more than
15 percent of national output, will take some years to recover its previous
volume. For the next planting season farmers will have to use their own
seed, of low quality worsened by the drought.

"It is an opportunity for a deeper debate on the country's agricultural
development model," said Altermir Tortello, coordinator of FETRAF-Sul, a
federation of family farmers in the southern region, and member of the
government's food security and economic and social development agencies.

In his opinion, the drought "has been a big lesson," not only about the
transgenic issue, but also about monoculture.

The so-called "green revolution" -- begun in the 1970s in Brazil with
widespread mechanisation of farms, over-use of chemical inputs and focus on
a limited number of crops for export -- is one of the causes of the current
drought in the south, or at least contributed to worsening its impacts, says
Tortello.

The green revolution model was implemented with widespread deforestation,
drainage of wetlands and intensive use of water supplies, throwing
ecosystems out of equilibrium, he said.

In Rio Grande do Sul, "one can travel hundreds of kilometres without seeing
any forest, only soy fields."

Small farmers who were attracted to monoculture of soybeans because it
seemed at the time to be a "goldmine", have now gone bankrupt, says
Tortello, who advocates "a change in the model" in favour of crop
diversification, which would also foster environmental and social
sustainability.

Transgenics strengthen and intensify the monoculture export model, which
concentrates land ownership in the hands of a few, pushes out and
impoverishes small farmers and furthermore degrades the environment, he
said.

Barison, meanwhile, defends the free marketing of transgenics so that
farmers can choose the variety that is most convenient for them. In his
opinion, the soybean farmers in the south "are paying for the risk they
assumed" when they planted illegal GM soy, and that the losses were not due
to the genetic modification, but rather to inappropriate seed.

Several agricultural technology companies, including the state-run Embrapa,
developed transgenic varieties with strong yields, incorporating the gene
from Monsanto's Roundup Ready which includes resistance to glyphosate
herbicide.

Miranda believes that if the Brazilian Biosecurity Act enters into force in
the form in which Congress approved it, there will be rapid expansion of
transgenic crops because of the high demand by farmers.

-by Mario Osava for Tierramerica

Originally published Mar. 26 by Latin American newspapers that are part of
the Tierramerica network. Tierramerica is a specialised news service
produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Program
and the United Nations Environment Program.

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