Genetically engineered crops in Argentina

By Estudio Chaloupka

A work carried out by agriculture foundation Producir Conservando stated that Argentina loses more than USD 3.3 billion annually for not recognizing the intellectual property of soy varieties.

Producir Conservando gathers local companies, producers and technicians to help develop the Argentine agribusiness industry. Its study evaluated the different average annual crop yields in Argentina, Brazil and the United States. The latter countries have had better growing percentages which the study attributes to greater genetic progress with greater recognition of intellectual property.
According to Producir Conservando, while in Brazil and the United States there is between a 75% and 100% recognition and royalty payment for intellectual property related to soy production, in Argentina it only reaches between a 30% and 35%.

Genetic science is increasingly important to a country’s agro industry and economy. The genetically modified crop has provided a lot of advantages for producers since its creation, like insect resistant or herbicide tolerant plants, and, for this reason, the planted area with transgenics has raised its value and crops have increased dramatically.

As new technologies are complex and costly to conduct, companies have turned to patents to protect their innovations in genetics. They provide intellectual property protection to breeders of new varieties of sexually reproduced, tuber propagated, and asexually reproduced plant varieties. Certificate owners have rights to exclude others from marketing and selling their varieties, manage the use of their varieties by other breeders, and enjoy legal protection of their work.

Although Argentina continues to be the third largest producer of genetically engineered crops by area after the United States and Brazil -farming 12% of the world’s total genetically engineered crop acreage on an estimated 24 million hectares- Argentine law allows farmers to save seed, resulting in unsecured intellectual property protections for genetically engineered seed. Despite intense debate, legislative attempts to create a payment scheme have all failed. Consequently, seed companies have been cautious in recent years in releasing new varieties, thus limiting farmer access to the latest technology.