Europe
March 15, 2016
European plant breeding has delivered millions of metric tons of food over 15 years. Click on the image to view the larger infographic. Image courtesy of European Seed Association.
The variety of crops that farmers grow, from maize and peppers to cotton, are created by plant breeders. These experts are matchmaking alchemists that mix art and science to change plant traits in order to bring out their best characteristics. Tolerance to disease is just one example. Over the past 15 years plant breeder techniques have saved global biodiversity equivalent to an area of 6.6 million hectares of Brazilian rainforest, or 66,000 km2 — put another way that’s a habitat the size of Latvia.
This factoid is one of many from a recent study commissioned by the European Technology Platform Plants for the Future (Plant ETP), based in Brussels, Belgium. The goal is to make tangible the quantitative and qualitative information on plant breeding and the impact it has had on society over a 15-year period.
The study is called The economic, social and environmental value of plant breeding in the European Union. Its findings are aimed at national policy makers, EU politicians, the European Parliament and the European Commission.
The field of plant breeding is actually a collection of different techniques by which experts combine parent plants to generate better crops in their offspring: a sort of arranged marriage. The measurable benefits of plant breeding science to the environment, food security, the economy and wider society at large are explained in detail within the 94-page study.
The results of the study are being presented at an event hosted today in Brussels on 15 March 2016 by the European Seed Association, which represents around 7,000 seed businesses, national associations and individual companies active in research, breeding, production and marketing of seeds in agricultural.
“Now we have quantitative data that proves this. It should be seen as a call for action to policy makers to assure both a science policy as well as a supportive regulatory environment that fosters and drives future innovation. In short, this report shows that supporting plant breeding innovation is first and foremost a great investment into our economic, as well as our societal future,” said event attendee Garlich von Essen, who is Secretary General of the European Seed Association.
Other examples of the quantitative and qualitative impact of plant breeders’ efforts in Europe and beyond include:
- Plant breeding helped reduce 3.4 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions over the past 15 years.
- Genetic crop improvements have added over €14 billion to the EU’s GDP since 2000.
- On average, and across major crops cultivated in the EU, plant breeding contributes to about 74% of total productivity growth, equal to an increase of yields by 1.24% per annum.
- Without plant breeding Europe would need an extra 19 million hectares (190,000 km2) of farmland to produce the same amount of crops.
- Through plant breeding Europe saved enough water to fill 22 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
- Around 94,000 km2 of Indonesian rainforest would have been lost had it not been for plant breeding interventions.
- 1.2 million farm workers earn on average €7,000 more annually thanks to better harvests.
The author of the study is Steffan Noleppa who is managing director at HFFA Research GmbH, a scientific consultancy in agriculture. You can access and read the full document online here.
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