Brussels, Belgium
28 January 2015 

Today, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) released its annual assessment of global biotech crop acreage, showing that 18 million farmers planted 181.5 million hectares of biotech crops across 28 countries in 2014, the 18th straight year of growth and the most ever in a single year. Bangladesh became the newest country growing biotech crops after approving Bt brinjal plantings and, for the third straight year, developing countries grew the majority of biotech crops - demonstrating the technology is scale-neutral and can bring economic and environmental benefits to farms large and small. 

"Farmers face incredible challenges maintaining abundant, high-quality harvests in a time of extreme growing conditions and reduced availability of natural resources," said Denise Dewar, Executive Director for Plant Biotechnology at CropLife International. "Our industry is proud to support these growers through biotech seeds that fight insects, weeds and diseases, build resilience to extreme weather, and, ultimately, improve their ability to feed our world."

After nearly 20 years on the market, farmers have planted billions of hectares of biotech crops and more than two-thirds of the world's population live in nations growing or importing the technology. Acreage growth has been driven by farmers who continue to plant biotech seeds year-after-year; in fact, ISAAA estimates that the repeat planting rate for biotech crops is virtually 100%. 

This has helped boost global food supplies and protect our natural resources in a time of unparalleled population increase. A recent study from PG Economics estimates biotech crops enabled farmers to produce 358 million extra tons of food since 1996 - the equivalent of providing everyone on Earth 99 boxes of corn flakes, 125 servings of tofu and a 14 ounce bottle of canola oil. The authors found farmers achieved this while still reducing their carbon dioxide emissions, fuel usage and pesticide applications.

"The benefits of plant biotechnology are clear to any farmer who has used the technology. Improving protection against volatile weather and high pest populations helps farmers reap better harvests and offers consumers a greater, more consistent supply of food" said Dewar. "As more nations open their doors to biotech crops each year, more farmers and consumers will share in these benefits."

A full copy of ISAAA's report is available online at www.isaaa.org. 

 

Website: http://www.croplife.org

Published: January 28, 2015