Transgenic soya cultivation and its consequences in Argentina

Soybean cultivation covers 57 % of all agricultural area in Argentina. Nearly 100 % of all cultivated soya in Argentina is transgenic soya and its planting requires glyphosate herbicide patented by Monsanto Company, which dominates around 90 % of the global market for genetically modified seeds. It has been proven that Glyphosate causes environmental damage, and in recent years the situation has become worse when the transgenic plants have started to become increasingly resistant to glyphosate and thus, it is being replaced by other even more toxic herbicides such as dicamba.

According to the recent research by the University of Kansas, the transgenic soya resistant to glyphosate is six to ten percent less productive than conventional soya. In this light, the motives for the transgenic soya cultivation, which produces huge profits for transnational companies such as Monsanto, become even more suspicious.

For Monsanto, Argentina strategically a good place to introduce the transgenic soya to the Southern Cone region since the use of genetically engineered seed was prohibited in some countries of the region like Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay. The transgenic soybean was marketed illegally from Argentina to those countries, where its cultivation has expanded ever since causing serious socio-environmental damages.

Among the environmental damages caused by transgenic soybean cultivation are erosion, dehydration and nutrient losses of the soil. It is estimated that the monoculture of soya extracts around 42 500 million cubic meters of water, one million tons of nitrogen and 160 thousand tons of phosphorus from the soil every year. Another serious environmental problem brought by soybean cultivation is deforestation - probably the most severe environmental problem in the region. In Argentina 200 000 hectares of forest is been cut every year in order to expand soya plantations.

In addition to the negative environmental consequences the transgenic soya has also severe impacts on local inhabitants and their livelihoods. During past ten years the number of production plants has diminished more than by 20 %. This is strongly related to the decreasing local production of staples and increasing unemployment. Soybean is not labor intensive and thus its cultivation has not created many new job opportunities for the former agricultural workers and the rural people in general. Furthermore, in recent years transnational companies have been associated with many forced removals of peasants.

This blog note was inspired by Carlos Vicente's presentation "Subsistence agriculture vs. agribusiness in Latin America" in a seminar held by Siemenpuusäätiö on 10th of June 2010: Displacement induced by Environmental Problems and Development. The slideshow in Spanish is available in:

http://www.siemenpuu.org/english/displacement/