Corn and soybeans | GMOs dominate the fields

The proportion of corn and soybean fields sown with varieties genetically modified to resist pesticides has reached a peak in Quebec.

In 2022, 81% of the 747,900 hectares of grain corn and soybeans in the province were planted with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), reveal the most recent figures published by the Institut de la statistique du Québec.

This is a slight increase over the proportions recorded over the past five years, but a spectacular leap over 2007, when the rate was more like 51%. Since their introduction into the Quebec agricultural system in the 1990s, the use of GMOs has followed a trend that continues to grow.

“We think it’s worrying to see that there are more and more GMOs planted in Quebec, because when we talk about GMOs, we’re also talking about pesticides,” said Thibault Rehn, coordinator of the group. environmental Vigilance GMO.

The latter points out that the 196 countries gathered at the World Summit on Biodiversity in Montreal are currently debating the idea of ​​setting up a global target for the reduction of pesticides, which are singled out for their harmful impacts on ecosystems.

“At COP15, one of the objectives proposed is the reduction of at least half or two thirds of pesticides […]. All these plants are made to tolerate one or more herbicides, so in the long term this will increase the use of herbicides, as we can see with the sales statistics for Quebec. »

Two types of GMOs

There are two main categories of GMO seeds. The first includes plants resistant to herbicides such as glyphosate, often described as type seeds. Roundup ready (Roundup being one of the brands under which glyphosate is sold).

Herbicides are pesticides used to control weeds in fields. They can be used in tandem with genetically modified seeds to survive the spraying of the chemical, which kills all other plants.

The second category includes BT maize seeds, with reference to Bacillus thuringiensisa natural bacterium from which a gene has been extracted that helps fight against several insect pests.

The president of the Producteurs de grains du Québec, Christian Overbeek, maintains that BT corn makes it possible to reduce the use of certain insecticides. Insecticides are pesticides that aim to kill insects, repel them or paralyze them.

According to the Canadian Corn Pest Coalition, which brings together industry players and researchers, there were, as of April 2022, 23 kinds of BT grain corn available in the country. These GMO varieties can be used to control corn borer, leaf beetle, cutworm, earworm or armyworm.

” The, [la tendance], this is called stacking. We sell new corn hybrids with eight traits in them: that is to say, you can have resistance to two herbicides and then six different traits of BT which are all a little bit different,” explains agronomist Mathieu Leduc. , who is a lecturer at the MacDonald Campus of McGill University. “It is certain that there is a price surcharge for the seed. The producer, on the other hand, buys simplicity and, in a way, a certain guarantee of success”, he explains.

Soy responsible for the increase in 2022

It is above all the cultivation of genetically modified soybeans that has experienced a notable increase in 2022: 74% of the 386,800 hectares of soybeans planted in Quebec in 2022 were planted with GMO seeds. A record. In 2021, it was more like 67% of the areas.

“The proportion has increased a little because of market circumstances,” explains Christian Overbeek. “There are producers who have abandoned or reduced the non-GMO soybean acreage because the GM soybeans find takers at prices which, in the end, give a better result for the producer,” he adds.

As for grain corn – the second most important crop in Quebec after hay – it was 88% of the areas planted with GMOs in 2022, down slightly from the peaks of 2019 and 2020 established at 92%, but a significant increase since 2007, when the proportion was 52%. Grain corn is used to feed livestock and produce ethanol.

There is also genetically modified canola, but Quebec has not compiled data on GMO areas since 2003.

Herbicide tolerance

Glyphosate is the best-selling herbicide in the world. Agronomist Mathieu Leduc points out that this product, which gets bad press, also has good sides.

It made the work of farmers easier. It is also a less toxic herbicide than certain products used before its appearance, such as atrazine. It also allows the use of the semi-direct technique, favorable to soil health. This method makes it possible to abandon plowing, a process requiring a lot of fossil fuels. It also promotes the establishment of cover crops in winter, which are beneficial in combating erosion and over-fertilization.

On the other hand, notes the agronomist, more and more weeds have developed resistance to this herbicide.

According to the Sage-Pesticides directory, developed by the Government of Quebec, there were, as of October 2022, at least five weeds resistant to glyphosate.

” [L’ennui]is that we use so much Roundup that these plants are only gaining ground,” says Mathieu Leduc.

As a result, farmers are now sometimes advised to mix two herbicides in the tank of their spreaders. “It’s like antibiotics. It’s a race forward to always try to outrun the resistance. It’s not viable in the long term,” he thinks.

The solution ? “It would really be if people could go back to other methods, have a toolbox of multiple methods, and chemical tools and genetically modified organisms would be just one tool, instead of the only one,” he replies. .