Biotech crops were grown on a record 448 million acres in 2014, a group that promotes the use of these crops reports Wednesday.
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications said genetically modified seeds, which contain DNA that’s been modified to express a trait such as resistance to a pest, an environmental condition or a chemical, were grown by 28 countries last year. The 448 million acres planted worldwide in 2014 was up 15 million acres from the previous year.
The United States continued to lead production with 180.6 million acres of biotech crops, an increase of about 7.6 million acres, or 4 percent, from 2013. In the United States, biotech crops are used for corn, cotton, sugar beet, squash and other crops.
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“The (acreage) of biotech crops grown in 1996 to 2014 equals, roughly, 80 percent more than the total land mass of China,” said Clive James, ISAAA founder and author of the report. “Global (acreage) has increased more than 100-fold since the first plantings of biotech crops.”
Read full, original article: Global GMO plantings hit a record in 2014, led by US
