For example, Auburn University reports that 77 percent of the cotton planted in Alabama in 1996 was B.t. cotton, with farmers attaining the second largest cotton crop ever while using less insecticide than they have applied since the 1940's, saving some 250,000 gallons of insecticide that they otherwise would have applied. Disease Protection . Through biotechnology, many plants can be protected against viral diseases carried by insects which now account for crop losses of 30-40 percent. Such protection will reduce the need for insecticides while simultaneously cutting crop loss from diseases such as tobacco mosaic which savages such root crops as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and casaba. Resistance to Herbicides .
Farmers use herbicides to control weeds that choke food crops.
But some of the most effective herbicides can be applied only before the food crop begins to grow because they otherwise would kill the crop along with the weeds. Using biotechnology, herbicide tolerant plants are being developed so farmers can spray during the growing season, killing the weeds but not the plants. One result will be greater yields to help maximize crop production from the shrinking amount of arable land available in this country and in developing nations. In addition, farmers will be able to use more environmentally friendly herbicides. Reduced Fertilizer Use .