Argentine Soy Exports Are Up, But Monsanto Is Not Amused

88 Qaim, Matin and Greg Traxler (in press), “Roundup ready soybeans in Argentina: farm level and aggregate welfare effects”, Agricultural Economics, pp. 2-3. See also: Trigo et al. (2002), p. 119. Trigo attributes this situation to the fact that Monsanto was then a chemical company, and was not completely competent regarding seed market issues. Trigo, Eduardo, personal communication, Buenos Aires, May 2005.

89 Pengue, Walter (2001), “Impactos tecnológicos y ambientales de la liberación de organismos genéticamente modificados,” paper presented at the Conferencia Internacional sobre Comercio, Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable. Perspectivas de América Latina y el Caribe, Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el medio Ambiente –PNUMA, Oficina regional para América Latina y el Caribe, Mexico, February 19-21. See also: Trigo et al. (2002), p. 120-121. See also some of the companies’ websites: http://www.pioneer.com/argentina/english/Default.htm, http://ebiz-nidera.com.ar/catalogo/sojas.asp, http://www2.donmario.com/.

90 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 3.

91 “Regalía extendida” agreement used by Nidera at http://ebiz-nidera.com.ar/catalogo/regex.asp

92 “Regalía extendida” agreement used by Monsanto: http://www.monsanto.com.ar/secciones/productos/soja/regalia/msps_r.asp

93 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 4.

94 Trigo et al. (2002), p. 119.

95 Idem, p. 122. They quote Del Bello, J. C. (1998), “Difusión de plaguicidas y estructua de la oferta,” in Barsky, O et al., La gricultura pampeana. Transformaciones productivas y sociales, Buenos Aires, FCE, IICA, CISEA.

96 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 4.

97 Trigo et al. (2002), p. 122. For global figures, they quote Clive James, “Global Review of Commercialized Transgenic Crops,” ISAAA Briefs No 23.

98 Trigo et al. (2002), p. 122. They quote Del Bello (1998).

99 Ablin and Paz (2000), p. 9.

100 Ablin and Paz (2000), p. 9-10.

101 Trigo et al. (2002), p. 122-123.

102 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 4.

103 Trigo et al. (2002), p. 122.

104 Pengue (2001), p. 6.

105 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 4 and 12.

106 Varise, Franco (2003), “Subiría el arancel de un herbicida importado,” La Nación, October 8, http://www.lanacion.com.ar/03/10/08/de_533878.asp

107 “No habrá aranceles extra para un herbicida,” La Nación, October 18, 2003. Available at: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/03/10/18/de_5636712.asp

108 Burke, Hilary (2004), “Monsanto prods South American nations on soy royalties,” September 28, Reuters.

109 Johnson, Elizabeth (2004), “Monsanto puts $40m Argentine investment on hold,” Chemical News & Intelligence, October 17.

110 Frank Mitsch, an analyst at Fulcrum Global Partners in New York. Quoted in Burke (2004), “Monsanto prods…”

111 An Argentine unidentified expert is quoted in Varise, Franco (2005), “La patente de la discordia,” La Nación, September 25, Campo section, pp. 1 and 6.

112 Smith, Tony (2004) “Argentine Soy Exports Are Up, But Monsanto Is Not Amused,” New York Times, Jan 21, p. W.1.

113 Varise (2005), “La patente… .”

114 Bertello, Fernando (2004), “Hay más venta de semilla fiscalizada,” La Nación, July 10, Economía & Negocios section, p. 3.

115 Varise, Franco (2004), “Se podrá sembrar maíz transgénico,” La Nación, July 14, Economía & Negocios section, p. 3,

116 Stancato, Renato and Gustavo Porto (2004), “Monsanto quer dobrar royalty,” O Estado de São Paulo, October 20. Available at: http://agenciact.mct.gov.br/index.php?action=/content/view&cod_objeto=21258.

117 Monsanto (2004), “La tecnología agrícola, un factor clave para el crecimiento de la Argentina,” ad published in La Nación, September 17, Economía & Negocios section, p. 3.

118 Varise, Franco 2005), “La patente… . ”

119 Burke (2004), “Monsanto prods….”

120 “Monsanto to take part in drafting legislation to regulate Argentina’s GM seed trade,” December 12, 2004, Business Latin America via NewsEdge Corporation, Edconomist Intelligence Unit. Available at: http://www.biothai.org/cgi-bin/content/news/show.pl?0382.

121 According to news accounts, Monsanto proposed to charge U$S 3 per ton in December, 2004; while in February 2005 it proposed to charge U$S 1 per ton in 2005, rising to U$S 2.50 per ton between 2006 and 2011. See: “Monsanto insistirá con el cobro de regalías por la soja,” La Nación, December 17, Economía & Negocios section, p. 10; and Burke, Hillary (2005), “South American ministers reject Monsanto soy royalty plan,” April 4, Reuters.

122 Varise, Franco (2005), “Modificarán el cobro de regalías acotadas,” La Nación, January 26, Economía & Negocios section, p. 4.

123 “Nuevo capítulo en la discusión por las regalías,” La Nación, February 19, Campo section, p. 2.

124 Mira, Cristian (2005a), “El conflicto por el cobro de las regalías de la soja RR se trasladó hasta la muestra,” La Nación, March 19, Economía & Negocios section, p. 3.

125 Burke (2004), “Monsanto prods…”

126 The Southern Agricultural Council (CAS) is a regional forum created in April 2003 in order to facilitate regional coordination of agricultural issues. It is integrated by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Its technical-administrative secretary has been entrusted to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). IICA News, May-June 2003, p. 4.

127 Burke, (2005), “South American ministers… .” On Brazil and Paraguay’s official denials, see: “Desmentida y revés. Regalías de la discordia,” La Nación, April 4, 2005, Campo section, p. 3.

128 Quoted in “Aceptan el pago de compensaciones a la empresa Monsanto,” La Nación, April 30, 2005, main section, p. 14.

129 “Paraguay gives green light for GMO soy,” October 20, Reuters.

130 “Brazil court temporarily halts Monsanto royalties,” January 12, 2005, Reuters.

131 Bertello, Fernando (2005), “Hacia un acuerdo por las regalías de la soja,” La Nación, May 28, Economía & Negocios section, p. 3.

132 Ferrere, Juan Pablo et al. (2005), “Regalías,” La Nación, June 4, Campo section, Correo de Lectores, p. 3.

133 Turner, Taos (2005), “Argentina to fight Monsanto in court, suspend talks,” Associated Press, July 1. Available at: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/12036471.htm.

134 “Crisis en la CONASE,” La Nación, Campo, September 17, 2005, p. 3.

135 Varise, Franco (2005), “Soja: inician juicios a exportadores locales por no pagar regalías,” La Nación, Economía, September 21, 2005, p. 3.

136 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 3.

137 SAGPyA, Eventos Aprobados Comercialmente. Available at: http://www.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar

138 Penna and Lema (2003), p. 205.

139 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 3. Trigo et al. (2002), p. 88.

140 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 2. They quote Gianessi, L.P. et al.(2002) Plant Biotechnology: Current and Potential Impact for Improving Pest Management in US Agriculture. An Analysis of 40 Case Studies, Washington DC, National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy.

141 James (2004), pp. 6-7.

142 Penna and Lema (2003), pp. 203-204.

143 White, D., “Biotecnología agrícola: Actitud del sector argentino.” Revista Agromercado. Quoted in Penna and Lema (2003), pp. 206-207. 400 farmers were interviewed.

144 Meninato, R. (2001), “The impact of biotechnology in Argentina”, in Solbrig, Otto, Robert Paarlberg and Francesco Di Castri (2001), Globalization and the Rural Environment , Cambridge, Harvard University David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, pp. 217-223, p. 219.

145 Aguirre, S. and L. Segura, Encuesta de Adopción de Soja Trangénica—Campaña. Soja-Información para Extensión, Marcos Juárez: INTA-EEA, 1998/99: 59. Quoted in Penna and Lema (2003), pp. 206-207.

146 Meninato (2001), p. 219.

147 Penna and Lema (2003), pp. 208-213.

148 Idem, p. 209. Regarding percentage of farmers who adopted RR soybean, they quote Cazenave and Associates (2000), Argentine agricultural sector consulting report.

149 Trigo and Cap (2003), “The impact of the introduction of transgenic crops in Argentinean agriculture,” AgBioForum, 6(3): pp. 87-94, p. 89.

150 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 5-6.

151 Idem, p. 6.

152 Reca and Parrellada (2001), p. 42.

153 Benbrook, Charles M. (2005), Rust, Resistance, Run Down Soils, and Rising Costs – Problems Facing Soybean Producers in Argentina, Ag BioTech InfoNet Technical Paper Number 8, January, p. 11. He paraphrases Gustavo Grobocopatel, head of a conglomerate which is “among the biggest, if not the biggest, soybean farm conglomerates controlled by a single family in the world.” Grobocopatel gave his presentation at the workshop Transgenic in Argentine Agriculture: Toward Defining a National Policy, held December 5, 2002, and sponsored by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Institute for Interamerican Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA).

154 Regarding AAPRESID, see Peiretti (2001), pp. 181-182. Regarding AACREA, see Satorre (2001), pp. 94-95. For more information regarding these two farmers’ associations, see their websites: http://www.aapresid.org.ar , and http://www.aacrea.org.ar .

155 Varise (2005), “La patente… .”

156 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p. 7.

157 Meninato (2001), p. 217; Penna and Lema (2003), p 220.

158 On the risks of transgenes escapes, see: Ellstrand, Norman C. (2002), “When transgenes wander, should we worry?,” in Ruse, Michael and David Castle, Genetically Modified Foods (Amherst, NY, Prometheus Books), pp. 325-330.

159 Qaim and Traxler (in press), p 7. They quote Brandshaw, L.., et al.(1997), “Perspectives on glyphosate resistance,” Weed Technology, 11, 189-198.

160 Idem, p. 7. They quote Fernandez-Cornejo, J., and M.D. McBride (2000), Genetically Engineered Crops for Pest Management in US Agriculture: Farm Level Effects. Agricultural Economics Report No. 786, Washington DC, Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture.

161 Qaim and Traxler (in press), pp. 7-8.

162 Trigo and Cap (2003), p. 91. They define agriculturization “as the permanent substitution of agriculture for the crop/livestock rotation, which was the dominant farming system in Argentina until the mid-1970s.” Regarding soil erosion in the Pampas before and after the introduction of no till practices, see: Casas Roberto R. (2003), “La sustentabilidad de la producción agrícola en la región pampeana,” Revista de la Bolsa de Comercio de Rosario, año 93, No 1490, pp. 4-13.

163 Trigo and Cap (2003), p. 91-92. Emphases in original.

164 Poverene and Cantamutto (2003), p. 29.

165 Poverene and Cantamutto (2003), p. 29.

166 Mellon, Margaret and Jane Rissler (2003), “Environmental effects of genetically modified food,” paper presented at the conference Genetically Modified Foods—the American Experience, sponsored by the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 12-13. Available at: http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/biotechnology/page.cfm?pageID=1219 . They mention Pratley, J., P. Saines, P. Eberbach, M. Incerti, and J. Broster, “Glyphosate resistance in annual ryegrass,” Proceedings of the 11th Conference, Grasslands Society of New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, 1996, p. 122. Available at: www.weedscience.org/Case/Case.asp?ResistID=380.

167 Pollack, Andrew (2003), “Widely used crop herbicide is losing weed resistance,” The New York Times, January 14, page C1.

168 The whole paragraph says: “ En Argentina ya se han detectado biotipos resistentes a herbicidas del grupo de las imidazolinonas y se ha observado un cambio en las poblaciones de malezas bajo determinados sistemas productivos muy difundidos, que permiten sospechar la presencia de nuevos individuos resistentes o tolerantes a los pincipios químicos de mayor uso actual.”, INTA, Estación Experimental Agropecuaria General Villegas (no date) “Impacto medio ambiental de tecnología de uso actual para el manejo y control de malezas”. Abstract available at: http://www.inta.gov.ar/villegas/investiga/malezas.htm

169 INTA EEA Marcos Juárez (2003), “Ocucha: maleza resistente al glifosato detectada en el área del Departamento Marcos Juárez (Córdoba),” Gacetilla de prensa - Sección Comunicaciones - Area Desarrollo Rural – December. Available at: http://www.inta.gov.ar/mjuarez/info/documentos/malezas/ocucha03.htm

170 Papa, J.C.M. (no date), “Malezas tolerantes y resistentes a herbicidas,” INTA EEA Oliveros. Available at: http://www.inta.gov.ar/balcarce/noticias/inta_expone/auditorioubaldogarcia/malezas.doc

171 Papa, Juan Carlos M. (no date), “Malezas: Frente a un punto de vista diferente,” INTA EEA Oliveros. Available at: http://www.inta.gov.ar/oliveros/info/documentos/malezas/trabajos/trab2.htm.

172 Vitta, J. L., D. Tuesca and E. Puricelli (in press), “Widespread use of glyphosate tolerant soybean and weed communities richness in Argentina,” Agricultural Ecosystems & Environment, p. 4. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2003.10.016.

173 It s important to note that the International Service on Herbicide Resistant Weeds (ISHRS) has no account of glyphosate-resistant weeds in Argentina. ISHRS is “a collaborative effort between weed scientists in over 80 countries” committed to maintaining “scientific accuracy in the reporting of herbicide resistant weeds globally,” and funded by the Herbicide Resistance Action Committee, the North American Herbicide Resistance Action Committee, and the Weed Science Society of America. See: Heap, I. (2005), International Service on Herbicide Resistant Weeds, available at: http://www.weedscience.com.

174 Benbrook (2005), pp. 29-34. He adds the glyphosate tolerant weeds based on Puricelli, I. et al., (2003), “Control de Trifolium repens con distintas dosis de herbicidas,” Siembra Directa, AAPRESID, year 14, No 70, pp. 39-40, December. Burndown application is defined by Benbrook as “the spraying of a broad-spectrum herbicide prior to planting.” The other two concentrations of glyphosate used in Argentina mentioned by Benbrook are 74,8 percent and 62 percent. There is a combination of glyphosate (at a 24 percent concentration) and imazetaphyr (at a 2 percent concentration). The sales of glyphoste in Argentina totalized a bit more than 130 million liters in 2003.

175 Joensen, Lilian and Stella Semino, “Argentina’s torrid love affair with the soybean.” This article is a summary of a longer case entitled “Argentina: Case study on the impact of RoundUp Ready soya.” Joensen and Semino are presented as member of the Rural reflection Group, an Argentine NGO that explicitly opposes GM crops, as we shall see in Part IV.

176 Benbrook (2005), p. 29.

177 Branford, Sue (2004), “Argentina’s bitter harvest,” New Scientist, 17 April, pp. 40-43, p. 42.

178 Idem, p. 42. It is important to mention that Branford’s somewhat biased approach against GM crops is noted in The Scientist editorial which comments her piece. As it states, “Argentina’s troubles are caused more by a mishandling of the technology than by the technology itself. Turning over large areas of farmland to just one crop, relying on one method of weed control, and failing to take precautions such as rotating crops, is asking for trouble.” “Growing pains,” New Scientist, 17 April, p. 3. Branford’s piece had coverage in British newspapers, and triggered angry responses from Argentine relatively independent experts such as Trigo, and from Argentine experts close to the biotechnology industry such as Gabriela Levitus. See: Brown, Paul (2004), “Soya ‘miracle’ turned sour in Argentina,” The Guardian, April 16, available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,1192869,00.html. And: Mirodan, Seamus and David Harrison (2004), “GM soya saved us, says angry Argentina after ‘superweed claim’,” Daily Telegraph, April 18, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk.

179 Idem, p. 34. The three studies he mentions are: King, C., L. Purcell and E. Vories (2001), Plant growth and nitrogenase activity of glyphosate-tolerant soybeans in response to foliar application,” Agronomy Journal, Vol. 9, p. 179-186; University of Missouri (2000), “MU researchers find fungi buildup in glyphosate-treated soybean fields,” a press-release available at: http://www.biotech-info.net/fungi_buildup2.html; Pike, P.D.R. (2002), Field Corn Pest Management Plan, North Central Region, August 14.

180 Stokstad, Erik (2004), “Plant pathologists gear up for battle with dread fungus,” Science, Vol 306 3 December, pp.1672-1673.

181 Ivancovich, A. y G. Botta (2002), “La roya de la soja en la Argentina,” published in Revista de Tecnología Agropecuaria-Divulgacion Tecnica del INTA Pergamino Vol. VII No. 19, September-December. Available at: http://sagpya.mecon.gov.ar/0-0/agricultura/otros/royadelasoja/RoyaRevista%0inta.pdf

182 SAGPyA (2005), Programa Nacional Roya de la Soja. Available at: http://sagpya.mecon.gov.ar

183 Palermo, Angel (2004), “Monitoreos para enfrentar los ataques de roya de la soja,” La Nación, October 2, Campo section, p. 5.; INTA Centro Regional Santa Fe, “Campaňa provincial de alerta temprana de roya de la soja. Organizándonos para minimizar su impacto. Available at: http://www.inta.gov.ar/rafaela/info/documentos/crsantafe/roya%5Fsoja.htm

184 Palermo, Angel (2004), “Los productores se ‘arman’ contra la roya,” La Nación, October 30, Campo section, p. 13.

185 Bertello, Fernando (2005), “Temen que la roya de la soja se expanda al sur bonaerense,” La Nación, May 2, Economía & Negocios section, p. 8; and Palermo, Angel (2004), “La roya de la soja llega a nuevas áreas,” La Nación, April 2, Campo section, p. 9.

186 “Las ventajas de fumigar desde el aire,” La Nación, November 13, Campo section, p. 14.

187 Darwrich, Néstor (2004), quoted in “La deuda interna argentina,” La Nación, October 30, 2004, Campo section, p. 17.

188 Palermo, Angel (2003), “Sed de nutrientes,” La Nación, October 17. Available at: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/suples/campo/0342/db_536477.asp.

189 Seifert, Roberto (2004), “La expansión de la frontera agrícola,” La Nación, October 30, Campo section, p. 17.

190 Study performed by Icasa/Mora y Araujo y Asociados for Fertilizar, an association of 9 companies. Quoted in Bertello, Fernando (2004), “Más fertilizantes en trigo y maíz menos para la soja,” December 11, Campo section, p. 7.

191 Pengue, W. A. (2004), “La ‘pampeanización’ de la Argentina,” Le Monde diplomatique/el Dipló, July, pp. 10. Pengue quotes the report Atlas Argentino, INTA, Agencia Alemana de Cooperación (GTZ) and Programa de Acción Nacional de Lucha contra la Desertificación (PAN), Buenos Aires, April 2003. See also: Ministerio de Salud y Ambiente (2004), Mapa Forestal Provincia de Salta, Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable, marzo; Fundación Pro Yungas (2003), “Las cifras de la selva pedemontana,” Tucumán; Brown, D. A. and L. R. Malicia, (2001) “Selva Pedemontana: un ecosistema al borde de la extinción,” August, quoted in a Greenpeace report (2002), “Cosecha récord, hambre récord,” June. Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org.ar; Foro del Buen Aires (2005), El cambio climático y la agenda local, report prepared for the second preparatory meeting for COP10, Buenos Aires, November 18 and 19.

192 Dirección de Bosques, SSec R.N. IyRI – SAyDS (no date), Informe sobre Deforestación en la Argentina.

193 Rofi, Dante A. (2004), “El agro frente a una cuestión de límites,” La Nación, Campo section, July 17, pp. 1 and 6-7.

194 “Piden que se suspenda el desmonte en el país,” La Nación, main section, May 7 2005, p. 24.

195 See, for example, two La Nación’s editorials: “Salta: la venta de áreas protegidas,” 24 June, 2004, p. 18; and “Al rescate de un área protegida,” May 14, 2005, p. 28. La Nación is the second largest national newspaper, and traditionally the closest to the agricultural sector.

196 Grau, H. Ricardo, N. Ignacio Gasparri, and T. Mitchell Aide (2005), Ciencia Hoy, Vol. 15, No. 87, June-July, pp. 16-17.

197 Rocha, Laura (2004), “Un país jaqueado por el desmonte,” La Nación, August 17, main section, p. 1 and 16. See also: Joensen, Lilian and Mae-Wan Ho (2003), “Argentina’s GM woes.” Available at: http://www.i-isis.org.uk/AGMW.php. This article also talks about police and para-police harassment to peasants in Santiago del Estero province in order to oust them to plant soybean. As already commented, Santiago del Estero province has been recently intervened by the national government following scandalous cases of abuse of power that far exceed agricultural issues.

198 Reboratti, Carlos E. (2005), “Efectos sociales de los cambios en la agricultura,” Ciencia Hoy, Vol. 15, No. 87, June-July, pp. 52-61.

199 Foro de la Tierra y la Alimentación (2004), “Jugando con fuego. Casos de contaminación vegetal, animal y humana en áreas rurales con presencia de sojales transgénicos,” March. Regarding the case in Loma Senés, for a local account see: Vales, Laura (2004), “El veneno llegó con el viento,” Página/12, May 5. Internationally, the case was commented, among others, in: Joensen and Ho (2003); and Branford (2004), p. 41. The latter article—and the case—were in turn quoted in Ching, Lim Li (2004), “How GM Crops Destroy the Third World (Case studies from Argentina, Indonesia and India)”, London, The Independent Science Panel, 29 April. Available at: http://www.indsp.org/chinghoc.php.

200 Dr. Norma Giarracca of the Grupo de Estudios Rurales, University of Buenos Aires. Quoted in La Soja: un Debate Impostergable, dossier prepared by the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI).

Available at: http://www.inti.gov.ar/sabercomo/sc16/inti42.php

201 Letter to the Editor by Ing. Agr. Mariano R. Tapia, La Nacion, Campo section, January 29, 2005, p. 3. Unexpectedly, Tapia attributes increasing land concentration to convertibility—the peso pegged to the dollar during the 1990s in Argentina—and to “distortion of world trade” by developed countries’ subsidies.

202 Trigo et al. (2002), pp. 95-101.

203 Reboratti (2005), p. 57.

204 Aide, T., and H. Grau (2004), “Globalization, migration and Latin American ecosystems,” Science, 305, pp. 1915-1916.

205 Almeyra et al. (2003), pp. 29-33.

206 Penna and Lema (2003), pp. 208-213, and Qaim and Traxler (in press), pp. 5-6.

207 Trigo et al. (2002), pp. 138-139. “Accumulated benefits” are “extra income which would have not been generated in the absence of the technology.”

208 Trigo, Eduardo (2005), “Consecuencias económicas de la transformación agrícola,” Ciencia Hoy, Vol. 15, No. 87, June-July, pp. 46-51.

209 Branford (2004), p. 42.

210 Barsky and Gelman (2001), pp. 374-387.

211 It is reasonable to imagine that these mobile capitals may not be committed to sustainability, but this assumption is contested. A recent analysis performed by researchers from CEMA University—an Argentine private university—based on figures from the National Agricultural Survey indicates that, in the Pampas, “pools de siembra” tend to use no-till techniques to a wider extent than “companies with other kind of capital structure.” Quoted in Gallacher, Marcos, “Tenencia de la tierra y cuidado del suelo,” La Nación, Campo section, November 20, 2004, p. 15. Additionally, Trigo suggests that simple measures could be taken to encourage better treatment of land—for example, by offering tax reductions to those who rent land for longer periods. Trigo, Eduardo, personal communication, Buenos Aires, May 2005.

212 Fernandez-Cornejo, Jorge, Cassandra Klotz-Ingram, Ralph Heimlich, Meredith Soule, William McBride and Sharon Jans, “Economic and environmental impacts of herbicide and insect resistant crops in the United States,” in Kalaitzdonakes (2003), pp. 63-87.

213 Nelson, Gerald C. and David S. Bullock, “Environmental effects of glyphosate resistant and soybeans in the United States,” in Kalaitzdonakes (2003), pp. 89-101.

214 Apart from discussing different studies, which talk about RR soybean yield drags of up to 15 percent, Benbrook mentions a study performed by the University of Arkansas, which shows “the bacterial symbiont responsible for nitrogen fixation in soybeans, Bradyrhizobium japonicum, is very sensitive to both Roundup and drought.” Benbrook, Charles M., Troubled Times Amid Commercial Success for Roundup Ready Soybeans: Glyphosate Efficacy is Slipping and Unstable Transgene Expression Erodes Plant Defenses and Yields. AgBioTech InfoNet Technical Paper Number 4. May 3, 2001. Available at: http://www.biotech-info.net/troubledtimesfinal-exsum.pdf

215 Idem, p. 5.

216 Bullock, David S. and Elisabeth I. Nitsi (2001), “Roundup ready soybean technology and farm production costs: measuring the incentive to adopt genetically modified seeds,” The American Behavioral Scientist, April 2001; 44,8; ABI/INFORM Global p. 1283-1301.

217 Brethour, Cher, Al Mussell, Holly Mayer and Larry Martin (2002), Agronomic, Economic and Environmental Impacts of the Commercial Cultivation of Glyphosate Tolerant Soybeans in Ontario. Final Report, prepared for the Council for Biotechnology Information (Canada), (Ontario: George Morris Centre, July 3). The survey was conducted on 325 farmers, sampled at random from a 8,000 farmers database. They were surveyed by phone.

218 Brethour et al. (2002), p. 46.

219 Baccarin, Ricardo and Arthuro Vierheller (h) (2003), “Señales de agotamiento tras un ciclo de notable expansión,” La Nación, October 17. Available at: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/suples/campo/0342/db_536483.asp.

220 Schnepf, Randall D., Erik Dohlman, and Christine Bolling. Agriculture in Brazil and Argentina: Developments and Prospects for Major Field Crops. Market and Trade Economics Division, Economic research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural and Trade report. WRS-01-3, p. 60

221 And the current administration is trying to keep it that way, as repeated interventions in the currency market confirm. See: “Dólar: otro record en las compras oficales,” La Nación, June 4, 2005, Economía & Negocios section, p. 2.

222 The source is DTN Brazil correspondent Anderson Gomes. Quoted in: “More Argentine soy area?,” High Plains Journal, February 13, 2003. DTN is a trade website. Available at: http://www.hpj.com/testnestable.cfm?tpye=story&sid=8153 , and at: http://www.checkbiothec.org .

223 “Agriculture groups ask Argentina to dump tax hike,” Reuters, April 6, 2002. Available at: http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&search=Argentina&doc_id=2998&start=1&fullsearch=0

224 Reca and Parrellada (2001), p. 42.

225 Ablin and Paz (2004), p. 7.

226 http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad2/highlights/2001/10/blairhou/MGA00-01.htm

227 Ledesma, Manuel Alvarado (2003), “Proteccionismo: ricos versus pobres?,” La Nación, October 4, 2003. Available at: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/suples/campo/0340/db_532634.asp.

228 Ablin and Paz (2001), p.6.

229 Andreani, Pablo (2004), “La movilizadora demanda china,” La Nación, Campo section, November 27, p. 5.

230 SAGPyA (2005), Eventos Aprobados. Available at: http://www.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar.

231 Reca and Parrellada, p. 42.

232 Almeyra et al. (2003). pp. 61-62.

233 SAGPyA (2005), Cifras Oficiales al 13/05/2005. Available at: http://www.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar.

234 Wroclavsky, Damian (2002), “GMOs help Argentina fight subsidies, Monsanto,” Reuters, December 11. Available at: http://www.checkbiotech.org .

235 Tomsom, Bill (2003), “Argentina Foresees Export Loss from New EU Food Rules”, Dow Jones News Service, December 18. Availabe at: http://www.soyatech.com/bluebook/news/viewarticle.ldml?a=20031218-2. See also: Rani, Tania (2004), “

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