After a dozen years of commercialization, a new wave of adoption of genetically modified crops reflects increased acceptance throughout the world, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, an industry-supported nonprofit that’s tracked global biotech crop planting since its introduction in 1996.

 

In its annual study, the organization, which is backed in part by industry and government agencies, found that 13.3 million farmers in a record 25 countries planted 125 million hectares of biotech crops last year, a 9.4 percent increase in acreage over the previous year. The United States continued to lead the world, accounting for half of the total global area of biotech crop cultivation, with Argentina, Brazil, India, Canada, China, Paraguay, and South Africa among the top countries by area under cultivation. Of the 25 countries that grow biotech crops, 10 are industrialized and 15 are developing countries.

 

In 2008, 1.3 million new farmers planted biotech crops. Of the 13.3 million farmers using genetically engineered seeds in 2008, more than 90 percent or 12.3 million were small and resource-poor farmers from developing countries, with the balance being large farmers from both industrial countries such as the United States and Canada and developing countries such as Argentina and Brazil. Most of the small and resource-poor farmers grew Bt cotton in India and China. An additional 1.2 million small farmers in India planted Bt cotton, which now makes up 82 percent of total cotton cultivation. That’s up from 66 percent in 2007.

 

Three new countries joined the list of biotech crop countries in 2008. Egypt and Burkina Faso in West Africa commercialized insect-tolerant crops for the first time. Bolivia became the tenth Latin American country to adopt GM crops, planting 600,000 hectares of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans in 2008.

 

Most notably, biotech farming began in the African nations of Egypt and Burkina Faso. Considered the “final frontier” for biotech crops, Africa has perhaps the greatest need and most to gain from the increased productivity realized by most adopters. In 2008, Egypt planted 700 hectares of Bt maize and Burkina Faso planted 8,500 hectares of Bt cotton. They joined South Africa, which since 1998 has benefited from biotech cotton, maize and soybean. Kenya enacted a Biosafety Law in mid-February which will facilitate the adoption of biotech crops in that country.  

 

“Future growth prospects are encouraging,” says Clive James, chairman and founder of International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications and author of the report. “The positive experiences in these new regional footholds in south, north, and west Africa will help lead the way for neighboring countries to learn by example. Additionally, political leaders globally are increasingly viewing biotech enhanced crops as a key part of the solution to critical social issues of food security and sustainability.”

 

For example, leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations meeting in Japan in July reaffirmed the role of agricultural biotechnology in increasing crop productivity and nutritional value, agreeing to “promote science-based risk analysis including on the contribution of seed varieties developed through biotechnology.”

 

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said “to solve the food problem, we have to rely on big science and technology measures, rely on biotechnology, rely on GM.” China made a commitment with the announcement that it was going to invest $3.5 billion over the next 12 years for continued research and development in order to ensure their food supply. Biotech rice, although not yet approved for commercial use, has already been developed and field tested in China. This past month, China’s Anhui Rice Research Institute began an 8-year research collaboration with Swiss agri-biotech giant Syngenta on drought tolerance and nitrogen utilization optimization in key crops such as corn and soybeans. And the Chinese National Rice Research Institute initiated a research collaboration with Dow AgroSciences to improve rice traits.

 

Some of the 2008 milestones that are indicators of the new wave of adoption include the accumulated acreage of biotech crops hitting 2 billion acres for the first time. It took the first 10 years from 1996 to 2005 to reach the 1-billion acre mark and only three more years to reach the 2-billion acre milestone. A new biotech crop, herbicide-tolerant sugar beet, was planted in the United States and Canada for the first time, to account for 59 percent of the U.S. crop, the highest launch adoption level of any crop. This signals a strong desire among growers for the technology, the group says. Brazilian farmers began to grow Bt maize, planting up to 1.3 million hectares in the past year, while Australian farmers began to grow herbicide-tolerant canola for the first time. Although France did not allow the planting of any biotech crops in 2008, seven other European countries increased their planting by 21 percent.

 

The non-profit group says the biotech crops have a beneficial impact on farm incomes. And PG Economics, a British consultancy, has estimated that the additional production arising from biotech crops over the past 10 years has also contributed enough energy to feed about 310 million people for a year.

 

“Biotech crops make two important contributions to global food security,” James says. “First, they increase yields, which increase food availability and supply. Second, they reduce production costs, which will also ultimately help reduce food prices. With 9.2 billion people to be fed by 2050, biotechnology plays a crucial role in helping satisfy the growing demand.”

 

Drought, an increasing problem throughout the world, is the single largest constraint to increased productivity. Drought-tolerant crops, maize in particular, are an emerging reality with seeds expected to be commercialized in the United States by 2012 or sooner and by 2017 for Africa. The report predicts that by the second decade of commercialization in 2015, 200 million hectares of biotech crops will be planted annually in a total of 40 countries.