Spatiotemporal patterns of non-genetically modified crops in the era of expansion of genetically modified food.

Jing Sun,Wenbin Wu,Jianguo Liu,Huajun Tang

doi:10.1038/srep14180

Abstract

Despite heated debates over the safety of genetically modified (GM) food, GM crops have been expanding rapidly. Much research has focused on the expansion of GM crops. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of non-genetically modified (non-GM) crops are not clear, although they may have significant environmental and agronomic impacts and important policy implications. To understand the dynamics of non-GM crops and to inform the debates among relevant stakeholders, we conducted spatiotemporal analyses of China’s major non-GM soybean production region, the Heilongjiang Province. Even though the total soybean planting area decreased from 2005 to 2010, surprisingly, there were hotspots of increase. The results also showed hotspots of loss as well as a large decline in the number and continuity of soybean plots. Since China is the largest non-GM soybean producer in the world, the decline of its major production region may signal the continual decline of global non-GM soybeans.

Highlights

Despite heated debates over the safety of genetically modified (GM) food, Genetically modified (GM) crops have been expanding rapidly
Modified (GM) crops continue to expand rapidly around the world, which has resulted in heated debates on a range of relevant issues such as health hazard and food safety[1,2]
Much research has been conducted on the expansion of GM crops, but little has been done on the spatial patterns of non-genetically modified crops

Summary

Introduction

Despite heated debates over the safety of genetically modified (GM) food, GM crops have been expanding rapidly. To understand the dynamics of non-GM crops and to inform the debates among relevant stakeholders, we conducted spatiotemporal analyses of China’s major non-GM soybean production region, the Heilongjiang Province. Since China is the largest non-GM soybean producer in the world, the decline of its major production region may signal the continual decline of global non-GM soybeans. Modified (GM) crops continue to expand rapidly around the world, which has resulted in heated debates on a range of relevant issues such as health hazard and food safety[1,2]. In the era of rapid expansion of GM food, analysing spatial patterns is essential to understand where non-GM crops are still grown, where they are increasing, and where they are declining. The price of domestic non-GM soybeans cannot compete with that of imported GM soybeans, thereby leading to a decline in the amount of area devoted to soybean production in China[11,12]

Methods

Results

Conclusion