Seed Today - Q1 2009 - (Page 68)

2008 Global Biotech Crops 13.3 million farmers in a record 25 countries planted biotech crops in 2008 Information in this article is from Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/ GM Crops: 2008 by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agribiotech Applications (ISAAA), Nairobi, Kenya (www.isaaa.org) 14 Biotech Megacountries Growing 50,000 Hectares (123,500 acres) or More of Biotech Crops United States 154.4M Corn, soybean, cotton, canola, squash, papaya, alfalfa, sugar beet Argentina 51.9M Corn, soybean, cotton Brazil 39.0M Corn, soybean, cotton India 18.8M Cotton Canada 18.8M Corn, canola, China 9.4M Cotton, Tomato, poplar, petunia, papaya, sweet pepper Paraguay 6.7M Soybean South Africa 4.4M Corn, soybean, cotton Uruguay 1.7M Corn, soybean Bolivia 1.5M Soybean Philippines 1.0M Corn Australia 1.2M Cotton, canola, carnation Mexico 250,00 Cotton, soybean Spain 250,00 Corn Source: Clive James 2009 Biotech crops, on the heels of a robust 2008 and bolstered by increased political will to meet food demands, are poised for a second wave of strong adoption that will drive sustained global growth through the end of the second decade of commercialization from 2006 to 2015. Progress was made on several important fronts in 2008: • Significant increases in acreage of biotech crops. • Increases in both the number of countries and farmers planting biotech crops globally. • Substantial progress in Africa, where the challenges are greatest. • Increased adoption of stacked traits. • The introduction of a new biotech crop (sugar beet deployed in the USA and Canada). The number of biotech countries planting biotech crops reached the historical milestone of 25 countries with significant progress in Africa with an increase from one country in 2007 to three countries in 2008 with South Africa being joined by Burkina Faso and Egypt. Notably in 2008, accumulatively the 68 First Quarter 2009 second billionth acre of a biotech crop was planted—only three years after the first one-billionth acre of a biotech crop was planted in 2005. In 2008, developing countries planting biotech crops outnumbered industrial countries by 15 to 10. GM Soybean Still Leads Biotech soybean continued to be the principal biotech crop in 2008, occupying 162.5 million acres or 53 percent of global biotech area, followed by biotech corn (92.1 million acres, 30 percent), biotech cotton (38.3 million acres, 12 percent) and biotech canola (16.6 million acres, five percent). Stacked products are a very important feature and future trend, which meets the multiple needs of farmers and consumers and these are now increasingly deployed by 10 countries— United States, Canada, Philippines, Australia, Mexico, South Africa, Honduras, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina. Small-Scale Farmers Benefit The largest increase in the number of farmers utilizing biotech crops in 2008 was in India where an additional 1.2 million more small farmers planted Bt cotton which now occupies 82 percent of total cotton, up from 66 percent in 2007. The increased income from biotech crops for small and resource-poor farmers represents an initial modest contribution towards the alleviation of their poverty. During the second decade of commercialization—from 2006 to 2015— biotech crops have an enormous potential for contributing to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of reducing poverty by 50 percent by 2015. • In India in 2008, 5 million small farmers, benefited from planting 7.6 million hectares of Bt cotton. • In China, Bt cotton increased yield by 9.6 percent and reduced insecticide use by 60 percent with positive implications for both the environment and the farmers’ health. • In South Africa, Bt corn increased yield 11 percent and income US$47/ acre for dryland farmers. • In the Philippines at least 200,000 small farmers gained from biotech corn in 2008. http://www.isaaa.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Seed Today - Q1 2009

Seed Today - Q1 2009 Contents Editor’s Notes Tri-State Seed LLC Blue Mountain Seed, Inc. Clearwater Seed According to ASTA Risa DeMasi Crystal Fricker AOSCA AOSA/SCST Oxbo International Hamer LLC Perten Insturments Taylor Products BinMaster Level Controls Dean Cavey Farmer Suicides in India: A Social Concern Unrelated to Bt Cotton Ad Index

Seed Today - Q1 2009

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