Quote:
NASS surveys do not report pesticide use on GE and conventional crop hectares separately.
The volume of herbicides applied to HR hectares can be approximated by adding NASS-reported glyphosate use per crop year to an estimate of the volume of herbicides other than glyphosate (hereafter, “other herbicides”) ap- plied on HR hectares. The volume of “other herbicides” applied on HR hectares is estimated based on the average number of non-glyphosate herbicides applied per hectare, coupled with the average rate per application of non- glyphosate herbicides. In addition, the rate of “other herbi- cides” on HR hectares is adjusted to reflect changes from year to year in overall herbicide use and glyphosate appli- cation rates. For example in recent years, “other herbi- cides” have been applied to around one-half of HR soybean hectares at an average rate of ~0.34 kgs/ha (~0.3 pounds/acre), resulting in an average ~0.17 kgs/ha (~0.15 pounds/acre) of “other herbicide” applications on all HR hectares (0.5 × 0.34).
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This is from the enveurope study. If I read this correctly there is no data available to determine how much pesticide or herbicide is applied to GMO corps vs Non-GMO crops. If I am reading this correctly it assumes that the the rate of Other Pesticides is assumed to be even between GMO and Non-GMO crops and it assumes that all Glysophate is applied to GMO crops.
Is this a correct read of how the study is applying the data? If not could someone correct me on how to interpret this data?
If this is a correct read of how the study interprets the data than all we know is that Pesticide use in the US in general has increased. We don't know if we can contribute this increase to an increase in GMO crops or an increase in pests, or lower cost of chemical, or higher prices for food or any number of other factors that could lead to the increase in pesticide application.