Argentina aims to embrace transgenic seeds (2)

Natural climate variability and extreme events, like shortages or excesses of water, frosts, severe storms and hail, have been observed with greater frequency and intensity in recent years, according to INTA studies. 

In addition, there are recurring periods of insufficient or excess rainfall associated with the cold phases (La Niña) and warm phases (El Niño) of the Southern Oscillation, a global climate phenomenon marked by changes in Pacific Ocean surface temperatures and air pressure. 

This is why the experts at INTA recommend crop management strategies that address these challenges and the development of more resilient species and varieties. 

Magrin noted that when water becomes more scarce, the salinity of soils can increase, which makes the salt-resistant quality of HAHB4 especially welcome. 

In fact, 75 percent of Argentina’s territory is drylands, with arid, semi-arid or dry sub-humid soils that are more prone to degradation and, eventually, desertification. 

INTA warns of growing desertification in the southern region of Patagonia and serious threats to the southwest area of the western province of Buenos Aires. 

But drylands are not barren. Half of the country’s crops are produced in these ecosystems, according to the Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands (LADA) study conducted in Argentina and published in late 2011. Nevertheless, careful management is needed. 

Improved seed varieties can help agriculture better adapt to this scenario. Testing in dryland areas in the provinces of Chaco, in northeast Argentina, and San Luis, in the midwest, resulted in good yields, said Chan. 

Environmental organizations are not as enthusiastic about these genetically modified seeds. The Argentine branch of Greenpeace is worried that they could fuel a new advance by agroindustry on the country’s forests. Argentina has already lost 70 percent of its original forest cover. 

"Unless a policy is adopted to completely prohibit forest clearing, these transgenic seeds could mean the end of the last native forests," Hernán Giardini, coordinator of the Greenpeace Argentina forests campaign, said in a press release.  

For the leader of the research team that developed the seeds, protection of the environment is an admirable pursuit, but it must be combined with the increase in food production needed in the world today. 

"We are molecular biologists and our challenge is to produce more on fewer hectares of land," said Chan. "It is not up to us to decide how far the planting of these crops should expand. That is up to the government."  

For her part, Magrin stressed that this new development will require "very strict land zoning regulations that define where crops can be expanded and where they pose a risk."