Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Alimentos ARGENTINE NON GMO SOYBEAN CHAIN Description of current Traceability and segregation system. Non-GMO versus GMO soybean comparative extra cost. Made by: Graciela Ghezan Liliana Iriarte Ciro Tapia Jorge D Annunzio
Description of soybean chain in Argentina. Soy is the principal crop in Argentine. In the 2003/2004 season the cultivated area has reached 14.2 million hectares and the production would total 32 million ton. The production growth has been constant for the last years; especially after GMO soybean commercialization was approved and its use increased significantly, being considered that it will reach the 42 million tons in the present season. In effect, it is considered that in 2004 less than 2% of the soybean production was non-gmo; due to this it is very difficult to find this type of soybean cases in Argentinean soybean complex. As it can be seen in the Figure 1, from the produced 32 million tons, 76.5% goes to the crushing industry and about, 22% is exported as grain, furthermore 93% of oil production and 97% of meal production go to foreign market. These figures show a clear exporting orientation of this supply chain. In primary production, formed by a great number of producers, a marked atomization is verified, while industrial and exporting processes advance, the activity shows an increasing concentration. Figure 1: Soybean chain. SOYBEAN PRODUCTION 2003/2004 32 M TON SUPPLY GRAIN CRUSHING 24,5 M TON GRAIN 7,5 M TON MEAL PRODUCTION 20,1 M TON OIL PRODUCTION 4,4 M TON MEAL EXPORTS 19,5 M TON OIL EXPORTS 4,1 M TON GRAIN EXPORTS 7 M TON MEAL LOCAL CONSUPTION 0,6 M TON OIL LOCAL CONSUPTION 0,3 M TON GRAIN LOCAL CONSUPTION 0,5 M TON
In case that soybean is sold directly to exportation, it is sent to the port from where it will be exported and where the only process it could suffer is goods conditioning for exportation (fumigation, sieve, etc). The other destination is crushing industry. The result is soybean oil and meal (protein- rich meals for animal feeding). From a ton of grated soybean, it is estimated, on average, that 30 kilos of husk, 178 kilos of oil and 792 kilos of meal are produced. Growth in soybean production was associated with a new rotation model, where soybean started to be sown after the wheat harvest within the same agricultural year, mainly in the north region of Bs. As. and south of Santa Fe. This double cultivation wheat-soybean allowed the strong increase of agricultural income yield capacity. What is more, direct sowing (based on non soil removal) and GMO genotype development (with resistance to glyphosate) were techniques that facilitated cultivation expansion. The GMO seed was rapidly adopted in Argentina due to its advantages in terms of costs. The introduction was so fast that in a few years almost 100% of the soybean production was GMO (Figure 2 and 3). Figure 2: Distribution for the sowed soybean area. Source: Brieva S., 2006. Period: 1977-78/1989-90 Period: 1990-91/1996-97 Period: 1998-99/2004-05
Figure 3: Proportion of GMO soybean over the whole sown soybean. Source: graphic design based on ASA data (ARGENTINE SEED PLOT ASSOCIATION) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 In Argentina, neither registrations on the production of non-gmo soybean nor code in the Standard Trade Classification that allows identifying the exports of this grain type exist. For this reason, in this study an estimate of this production was performed, identifying a total volume of non-gmo soybean in the country that is about the 20.200 tons. From this total, 8700 tons correspond to organic soybean and 11500 tons to conventional non-gmo soybean. This production is located in the main area producer of soybean (north of Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fé) and in the Argentinean northwest (Tucumán and Salta). From the identified total, 10.166 tons were analysed; 68% is organic and the remaining (32%) is conventional non-gmo. This research was performed with the modality of case studies. The cases were selected because they represent important links of the value chain. Four case studies had been selected and look into the traceability and segregation systems. The diagrams below show this systems and the comparative extra cost between production and export of Non-GMO soybean versus GMO soybean.
FARMER Production of soybean seeds origins: Many difficulties exist to find non-rr soybean seed and in general the producer uses seeds from EVERY 20 TONS PCR his harvest of previous year. In spite of knowing the origin, they carry out sampling and analysis of the seed. SOWING MACHINE: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION Machinery Cleaning: form are completed, specifying the day, the place and the way to do it. Organic producers give it to an external certifier, in the other cases it can be achieved by an external certifier or to be performed by themselves. SOWING MACHINE CLEANING: In general, own machinery. It must to be the first lot to sow in the season, to avoid contamination risks. In organic soybean the machinery must be used exclusively to the organic production. COMMERCIAL SOYBEAN FIELD: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION (CONVENTIONAL) SPATIAL SPECIALIZATION (ORGANIC) Soy Field: Technical file with specific number (Surface, previous crop, location, field number, boundaries cultivations). PRODUCTION FIELD: It should not have predecessor soybean for two years, preferably corn and sorghum. In organic is very important to have low stand of overgrowths. HARVEST MACHINE: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION Harvest: Files are completed with the production field number, harvest day, contractor, transport, destination**, harvested tons. ** Silo number if it is stored. HARVEST MACHINE CLEANING: Control with specialized personnel. Lost business profit is paid for the time that requires the cleaning machines and the harvested first part is discarded. EVERY SILO PCR every silo SILO BAG: SEGREGATION (exclusive and disposable use) SILO BAG MACHINE CLEANING. The soybean can be stored in the field with silo bag or it can stay in a storing plant. If it comes from silo bag it is possible that it is remitted directly to the industry or the export. In this moment, sampling from truck can be carried out to make Band test previous to the discharge in the silo, or directly to make a sampling in the silo and to analyze by PCR for every silo. Transport: Truck Bill of lading with technical file number of production field. B BY TRUCK TRUCK: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION TRUCK CLEANING TRACEABILITY SYSTEM PHYSICAL FLOW SEGREGATION SYSTEM
Transport: Truck Bill of lading with technical file number of production field. Band test BY TRUCK ELEVATOR / EXPORTER TRUCK: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION TRUCK CLEANING EVERY SILO SILO PLANT: SPATIAL SPECIALIZATION (exclusive use) Storing: File with silo number, producer, and field number. PCR every silo Silos used especially with non transgenic products. Transport: Bill of lading with Silo origin. TRUCK: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION TRUCK CLEANING Sale: To the buyer, either in the internal market or in the export it is given a Traceability report where details: the field location, the non-gmo soybean field location, the technical file, where it was stored and the results of PCR and commercial analyses. If the soybean comes directly from the silo bag it can have a conditioned process before the consolidation. In that case the whole cleaning and container load mechanisms are previously cleaned. CONTAINER: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION Container: Portfolio with all the data about the traceability that includes the shipment (producer, field number and location, place and storage type, silo number, transport, sealing number, consolidation place, shipment place). CONTAINER CLEANING PCR every container BOARDING SAMPLING INDUSTRY TRACEABILITY SYSTEM PHYSICAL FLOW SEGREGATION SYSTEM
TRUCK: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION TRUCK CLEANING INDUSTRY Suppliers: Stable suppliers are use, with soybean traceability certificates, with data about seed variety, production field, producer, production area, etc. TRUCK RECEPTION RECEPTION: TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION During April and May they budget for the soybean annual necessity, as organic one as conventional one. The organic soybean is received before (to avoid contamination). Then the conventional one is received throughout the whole year. PCR TEST by truck BY TRUCK (8 kg) NEGATIVE Band test Truck reception: The truck is weighed, sampling and Band test is carried out before the unload. If it results negative the discharge is authorized and samples are sent to analyze by PCR and other quality controls. The soybean is cleaned and stored. UNLOAD POSITIVE Storage: The soybean is stored in bags of 1000 kg each one and the lot is identified for truck to with an alphanumeric code (approximately 30 bags with one alphanumeric code). The letters are the same that the supplying field. Production: The product is identified with a departure number. The day and the hour of production consist in it. Files are completed with data about the commodity (alphanumeric code), ingredients, elaborated product, etc, are informed. CLEANING STORAGE IN BAGS OF 1 TON EACH ONE. PRODUCTION OF SOY FOOD BEVERAGES (MILK AND FRUIT) REJECTED STORAGE: SPATIAL SPECIALIZATION The organic soybean is stored in new bags, and the non organic soybean is stored in previously used bags. This is to be able to see quickly the type of soybean in the storage. PRODUCTION: SPATIAL SPECIALIZATION NON-GMO SOYBEAN TEMPORAL SPECIALIZATION ORGANIC versus CONVENTIONAL SOYBEAN CONTAINER: USA, EUROPE, ASIA. EVERY DEPARTURE PCR EVERY DEPARTURE PALLET-TRUCK: LATINAMERICA. TRACEABILITY SYSTEM PHYSICAL FLOW SEGREGATION SYSTEM
NON-GMO VERSUS GMO SOYBEAN COMPARATIVE EXTRA COST PRODUCTION EXTRA COST PRODUCTION Seed Sow Weed control Harvest Monitoring Soilo Bag Analysis Test Production cost /tn % Seed 2,37 3,54% Analysis 0,09 0,14% 0,36 0,54% 5,64 8,42% Harvest 3,35 5,00% Flushing 0,07 0,10% 6,46 9,65% 2,31 3,45% 0,68 1,02% 21,34 31,86% Lost income for field difference (oportunity cost) TOTAL PRODUCTION EXTRA COST 18,24 27,23% 39,59 59,10% PRODUCTION EXTRA COST. SENSIBILITY ANALYSIS. Yield (Tn/Ha) 3 3,5 4 Seed Seed 3,90 2,37 1,23 Analysis 0,11 0,09 0,08 Sow 0,43 0,36 0,32 Weed control 7,30 5,64 4,40 Harvest Harvest 2,87 3,35 3,83 Flushing 0,08 0,07 0,06 6,46 6,46 6,46 2,31 2,31 2,31 Monitoring Silo Bag Analysis test Production cost ( /tn) 0,80 0,68 0,60 24,25 21,34 19,29 Lost income for yiel difference ( /tn) TOTAL PRODUCTION EXTRA COST ( /tn) 42,56 18,24 0,00 66,81 39,59 19,29 EXPORT EXTRA COST EXPORT /tn % Analysis Test 0.68 1.02% Export Container / Loading 21.30 31.80% Export tax 5.42 8.09% EXPORT EXTRA COST 27.40 40.90% TOTAL EXTRA COST TOTAL EXTRA COST /tn % EXPORT EXTRA COST 27,40 40,90% PRODUCTION EXTRA COST 39,59 59,10% TOTAL EXTRA COST FOB SOYBEAN NON-GMO 66,99 100,00%