Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
Global area planted to biotech crops
(Reuters) – Genetically modified crops were planted on 134 million hectares (335 million acres) in 2009, up 7 percent from 2008, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).
The following is a look at the global area planted to biotech crops since the world’s first crop, a biotech soybean, was introduced in 1996.
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Year
Hectares
(million)
Acres
(million)
1996
1.7
4.3
1997
11
27.5
1998
27.8
69.5
1999
39.9
98.6
2000
44.2
109.2
2001
52.6
130
2002
58.7
145
2003
67.7
167.2
2004
81
200
2005
90
222
2006
102
252
2007
114.3
282
2008
125
308.8
2009
134
335
Source: ISAAA
(Reporting by Carey Gillam)
Global plantings of biotech crops
(Reuters) – Led by U.S. producers, 14 million farmers in 25 countries planted genetically modified crops in 2009, increasing planted biotech cropland by 7 percent, even as biotech crop use declined in Europe, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a pro-biotech crop group.
Biotech soybeans made up more than three-quarters of global soybean plantings; biotech cotton was nearly half of global cotton, and biotech maize accounted for more than one-quarter of global maize land.
