Farmers From Around the World Praise Biotech Crops
Profiles of farmers who grow biotech crops

About 7 million farmers in 18 countries plant biotech crops, and more than 85 percent of these are resource-poor farmers in the developing world, according to the non-profit International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

The following in-depth profiles are of several farmers from around the world who explain how biotechnology is helping them produce more and better food while protecting the environment.

Mahalingappa Shankarikoppa (Indian cotton farmer)
Bt Cotton Creates Three Times the Earnings for Indian Farmer: "With biotech cotton, I make two to three times what I used to with the old, traditional seeds," said Mahalingappa Shankarikoppa, who was one of the first to plant biotech cotton in India. He says the new seeds represent one of the most dramatic agricultural improvements he has ever witnessed.

Edwin Paraluman (Filipino corn farmer)
Biotech Corn Creates Big Income Gains for Filipino Families: "For me, it's really amazing," said Filipino farmer Edwin Paraluman, who plants about 10 acres of biotech corn. "This is the first time in my life that I can actually get ahead and provide a better life for my family." He said increased yields, better price and reduced spraying with Bt corn earned him 50 percent more income in 2003.

T.J. Buthelezi (South African cotton farmer)
Small Farmer in Africa Gets Big Gains From Bt Cotton: "For the first time, I'm making money," said T.J. Buthelezi, who cultivates a plot of Bt cotton in the Makhathini Flats area of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. "I can pay my debts." An independent study showed that the profit margins for farmers like Buthelezi are 77 percent higher, on average, than the margins realized by conventional cotton farmers.

Thandiwe Myeni (South African cotton farmer)
Biotechnology Helps Women Farmers Provide for Their Families in Africa: "It's very easy to plant cotton now," says Thandiwe Myeni, a South African widow of five who is also chairwoman of the Mbuso Farmers Association in Makhathini. Planting Bt cotton has "improved my lifestyle at home. We're earning a lot of money - really."

Lucian Buzdugan (Romanian soybean farm manager)
Biotech Soybeans Double Yields and Income for Romanian Farmer: "I'm grateful that I now have the training to grow biotech soybeans," says Lucian Buzdugan, who has seen income and yields double by planting genetically enhanced soybeans on the 23 farms he manages near the Black Sea - about 175 miles east of Bucharest. "They're helping me to be a better farmer and a better steward of the land. And they can help Romania become an even better agricultural producer - just like Iowa."

Jose Victor Nogues (Spanish corn farmer)
Spanish Farmers Embrace Bt Corn: "Introducing GM maize was definitely the way forward for us," said Jose Victor Nogues, president of a 500-member cooperative and a farmer of 500 acres of biotech corn in northern Spain. He is confident that if additional seeds were available, many of his cooperative members would happily increase their planting of Bt corn.

Michael Carey (Iowa corn and soybean farmer)
Poet Farmer Says Planting Biotech Seeds is "Part of Who I Am and What I Do": "I look at my fields and I know what back-breaking work it took just 10 years ago to get my fields just half as clean as they are now," said Michael Carey, a poet and a corn and soybean farmer in Iowa who has planted biotech crops since 1996. Today, he says there is no way he could successfully farm without them. "That saves me time for writing."

Donna Winters (Louisiana cotton farmer)
Biotech and Me, a Cotton Tale: "What a difference it (biotechnology) has made to the way we farm!" said Donna Winters, who grows cotton in Louisiana. "Back in the 1930s, my grandfather used to put arsenic in a flour sack and shake it over his cotton plants to protect them from insects. Then we moved to pesticides, which control these pests much more effectively and safely. Now we have biotech crops that protect themselves from insects. And that's just cotton. We're saving time and money with our soybean crop as well."

Bruce Dalgarno (Canadian canola farmer)
Economics of Herbicide Use the Driving Force for Planting Biotech Canola Varieties: For Canadian canola farmer, Bruce Dalgarno, it was an easy decision to plant biotech canola. The cost to control weeds in his canola crop was in the range of $30 to $50 per acre using conventional methods; with herbicide-tolerant biotech canola, the cost dropped to just $5-$7 per acre. And that was just the beginning - higher yields and the ability to grow crops on marginal land soon followed.

Jeff Wilson (Canadian model farm operator)
Biotech Sweet Corn Outsells Conventional Varieties on ‘Model Farm': Ontario farmer Jeff Wilson grows different crops on test plots using three growing methods: conventional, organic and biotech. But he says biotech sweet corn outsells conventional varieties 5 to 1.

Roy Bardole (Iowa soybean farmer)
Biotechnology Works for Iowa Soybean Farmer Roy Bardole: "We have wildlife on the farm today that my dad has never seen before, and he's over 90 years old," said Roy Bardole, who plants biotech crops that make it easier for him to practice environmentally friendly no-till planting techniques on his Iowa farm. In addition, with biotech soybeans, Bardole now spends about half of what he used to on herbicides - down to less than $30 per acre, compared with $65-$70 per acre with conventional crops.

Rod Gangwish (Nebraska corn farmer)
Farmer Says Bt Corn Boosts His Bottom Line: Rod Gangwish calls biotech crops "the greatest thing since hybrid corn." Gangwish, who farms 1,800 acres of both corn and soybeans, says that Bt corn has definitely made a difference in his bottom line over the years. Biotech crops have helped reduce his agricultural inputs, saving him both time and money.