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http://www.genok.com/news_cms/2012/july/report-soybean-production-in-the-southern-cone-of-the-americas-update-on-land-and-pesticide-use/158
Soybean Production in the Southern Cone of the Americas: Update on Land and Pesticide Use
This report aims to contribute to a better understanding of the implications of soybean production. To that end, it compiles and analyzes specific data on land and pesticide use in the main soybean producing countries of the Southern Cone of South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
This document is based on statistics that has been generated by national official bodies, specialized institutions, and organizations that produce first hand data on soybean cultivation. Statistics from the United Nations Program on Food and Agriculture (FAO) and complementary information reported in published literature have also been included.
The findings of this report points out the more comprehensive analysis of the implications of soybean cultivation is required to assess the real ecological and social costs of its production in the Americas.
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Extracts
Summary
The history of the soybean production in the Southern Cone of the Americas goes back for more than 100 years. However, it has been in the past 40 years, particularly in the last two decades, that it has experienced an accelerated transformation and expansion through a pattern of industrialized agriculture.
Soybean Production and Land Use
South America is the region with the fastest growth of soybean production globally. During the last 40 years the area under soybean cultivation has increased 30-fold, surpassing that in Asia in 1978, and that in North America in 2003. The introduction of genetically modified (GM) varieties in the region has marked a new phase of expansion in soybean production.
In the first 14 years after the approval of GM varieties, soybean production grew by 25 million hectares (1996 to 2009), in comparison with the increase of 17 million hectares over the previous 25 years (1971-1995). In 2009, in the region approximately 43 million hectares of soybean was planted in total (44% of the 98.17 million cultivated globally). In 2010, this area reached almost 47 million hectares.
The vast majority of soybean production of South America takes place in the Southern Cone countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The largest area of soybean by far is located in Brazil accounting for 50% of the sub-regional total. Argentina and Brazil alone hold 90% of the sub-regional area planted with this crop.
South America´s share in the global soybean production by 2009 was 43%
(94.91 million tons). In terms of volume, Brazil and Argentina have been the main soybean producers for the past 20 years in the Southern Cone.
Worldwide, by 2009 Brazil held 26% of the soybean production and Argentina 24%.
The volume of soybean produced in the Southern Cone of the Americas is related to the planted area. As the area under soybean cultivation increases, so too does the volume harvested. Productivity has a limited influence on the increasing volumes of the regional soybean production since it has been highly variable in the cultivation of both conventional and GM varieties. Accordingly, the introduction of GM soybean has not resulted in the stabilization or increase in sub-regional productivity rates. On the contrary, based on the data analyzed, after the approval of GM soybean an accelerated rate of increase of the area cultivated with soybean has been recorded.
The expansion of the area planted with soybean has followed two patterns:
i) occupying larger portions of arable land by substituting or displacing other crops or agricultural activities, and ii) through land use change, specifically from forest or other natural habitats to soybean monocrop. In relation to the first pattern, in the sub-region from 2005 to 2010, an average of 869 thousand hectares of arable land shifted to soybean cultivation every year. By 2009, Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay had recorded the largest increases of soybean share in their national arable land equaling 36%, 59% and 66%, respectively. That year, 31% of the subregional arable land was occupied with soybean.
In relation to the second pattern of expansion of soybean cultivation (land use change), a significant portion of the soybean is being cropped on former forest lands. At both regional and national levels, as the area cultivated with soybean increases, forest areas decrease. In consequence, the ratio of forest area to that of soybean is shrinking rapidly. For example, in Argentina this ratio decreased from 7:1 in 1991 to barely 5:1 in 1996, the year of the introduction of GM soybean.
In terms of land management, the predominance of soybean in the Southern Cone agriculture is the result of two other processes. One process is the accelerated increase of the area cultivated with soybean in comparison to other crops. For instance, in Argentina from 2001 to 2010, the area planted with soybean grew by 63%, while sorghum only increased by 22%. The other process is the decrease in the area cultivated with other crops than soybean. For example, in Paraguay from 2001 to 2010, the area planted with cassava reduced by 27% while soybean increased by 99%. These numbers confirm the dominance of soybean in the agriculture of the sub-region, which derives in greater competition for arable land between soybean and other agricultural activities, as well as an overall increase in the land dedicated to agriculture (through the expansion of the agricultural frontier into natural habitats such as forest).
Most of the soybean production in the Southern Cone is large-scale (i.e.
on areas bigger than 500 hectares), which leads to land concentration. For instance in Brazil in 2006, 5% of the soybean producers managed 59% of the planted area. In Bolivia during the 2009/10 season, 2% of the producers managed 52% of the area cultivated with soybean. This process of land concentration into fewer producers has been increasing, meaning that a small number of people now manage larger areas (reaching even 2,500 to 5,000 hectares per plot in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay).
In the smaller Southern Cone producing countries (e.g. Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay), the majority of the soybean and particularly large-scale soybean producers are foreigners. There are a considerable number of Brazilian producers and investors in both Bolivia and Paraguay.
The largest majority of soybean produced in the Southern Cone is GM for tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate.
Since the approval of GM soybean in the sub-region (in 1996 in Argentina and Uruguay) it quickly spread until it took over most of the sub-regional area cultivated with this crop. Of the total area planted with soybean in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Uruguay, an average of 65% was GM in 2005.
By 2010 GM soybean was on average 85% of the total produced in Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil.
The increase in the area planted with soybean in the Southern Cone has been accompanied by an increase in the use of pesticides, particularly herbicides and especially the herbicide glyphosate. For example, in Argentina the volumes of glyphosate applied nearly quadrupled (increasing by a factor of 3.8) in 2000 from the previous year, reaching a total of nearly 101 million liters applied.
Since the approval of the glyphosate tolerant varieties, GM soybean have come to dominate the arable land of each soybean producing country in the Southern Cone. Because of this, a direct link between the area under GM soybean production and increased herbicide use can be established. Hence, it is not surprising that a significant rise in glyphosate use has been recorded in the few years since the approval of glyphosate tolerant GM soybean.
The main factors driving this increase in herbicide use in the Southern Cone are the high adoption of glyphosate tolerant GM soybean and the implementation of no tilling systems, which rely on glyphosate applications. Both factors result in the appearance of weeds resistant to this herbicide, which at the same time derives in the increasing use of more toxic pesticides (e.g. 2,4-D and paraquat according to the 2009 World Health Organization Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard). The majority of the herbicides used in the sub-region come from China, Brazil, and Argentina.
Soybean production in the Southern Cone of the Americas is widespread in terms of area occupied, which is in constant expansion particularly after the approval of GM soybean tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate. The growth in the volume of soybean harvested in the sub-region is the result of the increase in the cultivated area, not the improvement of productivity. Productivity of soybean has remained highly variable, even after the introduction of GM varieties. The data analyzed shows that together with the growing area of soybean cultivation - particularly after the approval of GM soybean - the substitution and displacement of other crops and agricultural activities have increased as well. Since the majority of the soybean produced in the subregion is GM, the expansion of soybean cultivation is accompanied by increases in the volumes of glyphosate applied, and other more toxic herbicides used to control resistant weeds.
The expansion of the soybean in the Southern Cone has also exacerbated deforestation and land concentration. The massive production of soybean in the Southern Cone of South America is being largely driven by
Soybean Production and Pesticides Use
The increase in the area planted with soybean in the Southern Cone has been accompanied by an increase in the use of pesticides, particularly herbicides and especially the herbicide glyphosate. For example, in Argentina the volumes of glyphosate applied nearly quadrupled (increasing by a factor of 3.8) in 2000 from the previous year, reaching a total of nearly 101 million liters applied.
Since the approval of the glyphosate tolerant varieties, GM soybean have come to dominate the arable land of each soybean producing country in the Southern Cone. Because of this, a direct link between the area under GM soybean production and increased herbicide use can be established. Hence, it is not surprising that a significant rise in glyphosate use has been recorded in the few years since the approval of glyphosate tolerant GM soybean.
The main factors driving this increase in herbicide use in the Southern Cone are the high adoption of glyphosate tolerant GM soybean and the implementation of no tilling systems, which rely on glyphosate applications. Both factors result in the appearance of weeds resistant to this herbicide, which at the same time derives in the increasing use of more toxic pesticides (e.g. 2,4-D and paraquat according to the 2009 World Health Organization Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard). The majority of the herbicides used in the sub-region come from China, Brazil, and Argentina.
Concluding Remarks
Soybean production in the Southern Cone of the Americas is widespread in terms of area occupied, which is in constant expansion particularly after the approval of GM soybean tolerant to the herbicide glyphosate. The growth in the volume of soybean harvested in the sub-region is the result of the increase in the cultivated area, not the improvement of productivity. Productivity of soybean has remained highly variable, even after the introduction of GM varieties. The data analyzed shows that together with the growing area of soybean cultivation - particularly after the approval of GM soybean - the substitution and displacement of other crops and agricultural activities have increased as well. Since the majority of the soybean produced in the subregion is GM, the expansion of soybean cultivation is accompanied by increases in the volumes of glyphosate applied, and other more toxic herbicides used to control resistant weeds. The expansion of the soybean in the Southern Cone has also exacerbated deforestation and land concentration.
The massive production of soybean in the Southern Cone of South America is being largely driven by economic globalization, in which demand originating in a geographically distant places (e.g. Europe and China), impacts the organization of production and the socioeconomic dynamics of the producing places. A clear outcome is the externalization of the ecological, social and public health costs deriving from soybean production. A more comprehensive analysis of the implications of soybean cultivation is required to assess the real cost of its production in the Americas.
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