November 12, 2001… Saint Louis, Missouri… The American Soybean Association
(ASA) today released the findings of its first-ever Conservation Tillage Study,
which shows how the availability of soybean seeds enhanced through biotechnology
has allowed and encouraged farmers to implement reduced tillage practices
that protect farmland from wind and rain erosion. The study shows that 73
percent of the growers are now leaving more crop residue on the soil surface
than they did in 1996, when biotech-derived soybeans became available for
commercial planting. More than half the study group credited the introduction
of biotechnology-derived Roundup Ready® Soybeans as the factor that had the greatest impact on their adoption
of reduced tillage practices in soybeans.
“This ASA study quantifies
what most soybean farmers already know,” said ASA President Bart Ruth, a
producer from Rising City, Neb. “Biotechnology gave farmers another tool to
control weeds that reduce yields and lower the quality of our crops, while at
the same time, helping us improve our stewardship of the environment.”
Using traditional methods,
farmland many times was plowed in the fall and must be disked before planting,
and then cultivated once or twice during the growing season to control weeds.
While this method helped control weeds, it also left the ground exposed to wind
and rain erosion, which carries soil and agricultural chemicals into the air
and into nearby streams and rivers.
No-till farming means that
the ground is not plowed at all, while reduced tillage means that the ground is
disturbed less than it would be with traditional tillage systems. Under a
no-till farming system, soybean seeds for the next crop are planted right through
the organic material that is left over from the previous crop, which might have
been corn, cotton, wheat or some other crop.
“ASA estimates that no-till
and reduced-till farming is now the preferred planting method on more than 80
percent of all the soybean acres in this country,” Ruth said. “The majority of
growers in ASA’s study said that the Roundup Ready system made possible through
biotechnology was the biggest reason that they have adopted or increased their
use of conservation tillage practices.”
Almost half (48 percent) of
the growers in ASA’s study said that they have increased their no-till soybean
acres during the last six growing seasons (1996-2001). During this period,
no-till soybean acres have more than doubled to 49 percent of total soybean
acres, and reduced till acres have increased by one-fourth, to account for
another 33 percent of soybean acres.
In the ASA study, 53 percent of the growers said they are making fewer tillage passes in soybeans. Reduced tillage practices in soybeans saved 247 million tons of irreplaceable topsoil in 2000, and reduced the number of times a farmer had to run equipment over the field, saving 234 million gallons of fuel.
“This technology reduces my
production costs because I don’t have to drive my equipment over each field as
many times,” Ruth said. “That decreases my labor cost and the wear-and-tear on
my equipment. It also lowers my fuel cost and improves the air quality. And for
the first time in modern history, we have the technology to implement
sustainable agricultural practices that are saving the soil for future
generations.”
For its Conservation Tillage
Study, ASA hired Doane Marketing Research, Inc., a local firm that is
nationally recognized for their expertise in conducting agricultural studies
involving farmers. Doane studied the farming practices of 452 farmers in 19
Midwestern and Southern states with quotas established based on each state’s
proportion of soybean acres. Participants with 200 or more soybean acres were
randomly selected from lists maintained by Doane, plus 201 participants were
selected at random from an ASA members list.
While the study shows that
ASA members were earlier adopters of conservation tillage practices, by 2001,
the tillage practices of non-members were similar to that of ASA members. The
ASA represents more than 26,000 soybean producers with affiliate offices in 26
states and 13 international marketing offices around the globe.
“ASA wanted to look at
soybean tillage practices in 1996 and compare them to present day tillage
practices,” Ruth said. “As producers, we knew that biotechnology was improving
the way we farm. This study gives us an objective way to measure these changes,
identify the reasons for it, and determine what obstacles may be keeping some
farmers from implementing more conservation tillage on their farms.”
The ASA Conservation Tillage
Study is available online at www.soygrowers.com.
For more information, contact:
Bart
Ruth, ASA President, 402/542-2181, bdruth@alltel.net
Bob
Callanan, ASA Communication Director, 314/576-1770, bcallanan@soy.org
American
Soybean Association
12125 Woodcrest Executive Drive, Suite 100, Saint Louis, MO 63141
Phone: 314/576-1770, Fax: 314/576-2786
Access
this release at http://www.soygrowers.com