USDA recently released data summarizing the rapid adoption of herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant crops since their introduction in 1996. Based on USDA survey data, herbicide-tolerant soybeans went from 17 percent of U.S. soybean acreage in 1997 to 68 percent in 2001 and 93 percent in 2013.
Plantings of herbicide-tolerant cotton expanded from about 10 percent of U.S. acreage in 1997 to 56 percent in 2001 and 82 percent in 2013. The adoption of herbicide-tolerant corn accelerated to 85 percent of U.S. corn acreage in 2013.
Insect-resistant crops containing the gene from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) have been available for corn and cotton since 1996. Plantings of Bt corn grew from about 8 percent of U.S. corn acreage in 1997 to 26 percent in 1999, then fell to 19 percent in 2000 and 2001, before climbing to 29 percent in 2003 and 76 percent in 2013.
Read the full story here: USDA chronicles rapid adoption of biotech crops
