In terms of square miles, the United States clearly has an advantage over the other countries studied. Comparing land use for transgenic farming with organic farming, however, demonstrates that the United States is sacrificing responsible stewarding of the land for production.
Agriculture
| COLOR CODING | |
|---|---|
| Green | Ranked first for statistic |
| Red | Ranked last for statistic |
| Organic farming land use, % | Transgenic farming land use, % | Sustainable Nitrogen Management Index Score | Agricultural land | Arable land | Pesticide usage rates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 14.77 | 1.47 | 49.7 | 47.3 | 4.1 | 1.88 |
| Canada | 2.69 | 25.74 | 61.7 | 6.5 | 4.4 | 2.54 |
| Denmark | 11.43 | banned | 61.3 | 65.5 | 58.9 | 1.41 |
| France | 9.95 | banned | 63.7 | 52.1 | 32.8 | 3.45 |
| Germany | 11.16 | banned | 67.1 | 47.5 | 33.4 | 4.06 |
| Italy | 17.91 | banned | 41.7 | 41.9 | 24.3 | 4.69 |
| Japan | 0.35 | banned | 50.3 | 12.8 | 11.2 | 11.63 |
| Netherlands | 4.21 | banned | 45.2 | 53.8 | 29.8 | 9.77 |
| Norway | 4.66 | banned | 18.9 | 2.7 | 2.2 | .094 |
| Sweden | 19.87 | – | 46.6 | 7.4 | 6.2 | 0.90 |
| United Kingdom | 2.80 | banned | 56.0 | 71.2 | 24.8 | 2.81 |
| United States | 0.51 | 46.13 | 76.6 | 44.4 | 17.2 | 3.02 |
SOURCES
Organic farming land use: Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL
Organic area share of total farmland as a %, 2022. Updated July 31, 2024
Transgenic farming land use: RoyalSociety.org as of July, 2024, this is out of date. We are looking for a source.
Countries with bans on GMO crop cultivation noted as such. 2015. Open field trials for GMOs are allowed in Sweden with restrictions in over 40 GMO free zones.
Sustainable Nitrogen Management Index
The Sustainable Nitrogen Management Index (SNMI) seeks to balance efficient application of nitrogen fertilizer with maximum crop yields as a measure of the environmental performance of agricultural production. The 2024 EPI uses the SNMI as a proxy for agricultural drivers of environmental damage. A score of 100 indicates that a country is optimizing both crop yields and fertilizer application, and a score of 0 indicates a country has among the worst performance on the SNMI. Data supporting this metric come from FAOSTAT crop nutrient budget database. Updated 7/31/2024.
Agricultural land: World Bank
Agricultural land as percent of land area. Most recent data from 2021. Updated 7/30/2024.
Arable land: World Bank
As a percent of land area, 2021. Updated 7/30/2024.
Pesticide usage rates: Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN
Kg/ha. 2022. Updated 7/31/2024.
Agricultural subsidies score
In European countries, the removal of agricultural subsidies in recent years has contributed to a decline in nitrogen pollution from use of fertilizers.
NOTES
“EU’s top court confirms safety checks needed for new ‘GMO 2.0’”
July 25, 2018.
The European Court of Justice ruled that a new generation of GMOs (GMO 2.0) must undergo the same preexisting safety checks as other GMOs, a decision that the biotech industry has shown opposition.
“New York Times confirms GMO industry ties at National Academies of Sciences” Tim Schwab
December 28, 2016.
Research shows that there has been conflicts of interest within the National Academies of Sciences, which performs research on GMOs. There is previous evidence of the biotech industry’s influence on NAS’s work on GMOs, including financial leverage.