Pocket K No. 57: Impact of GM Crops on Soil Health

A healthy agricultural production system cannot exist without healthy soils. Aside from being the habitat of diverse organisms that contribute to carbon sequestration, the soil plays a vital role in food production as well as in climate change mitigation.

Majority of the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere are contributed by various biological processes that take place in the soil. Carbon sequestration happens when carbon from the atmosphere is absorbed and stored in the soil. This process is vital because the more carbon is stored in the soil, the less carbon dioxide would be present in the atmosphere that contributes to climate change. Thus, restoring degraded soils and adopting soil conservation practices are important to decrease greenhouse gases emitted by agriculture.

With biotech products such as herbicide tolerant crops, conservation practices have been used not just to the farmers' advantage, but also to preserve soil health.

Continue reading the Impact of GM Crops on Soil Health in the ISAAA website.