Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Keywords:
Genetically engineered crops, agricultural biotechnology, seed
industry, research and development, adoption, crop yields, pesticide use,
corn, soybeans, cotton
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Genetically engineered (GE) varieties with pest management traits became
commercially available for major crops in 1996. More than 15 years later,
adoption of these varieties by U.S. farmers is widespread and U.S. consumers
eat many products derived from GE crops—including cornmeal, oils, and
sugars—largely unaware that these products were derived from GE crops.
Despite the rapid increase in the adoption of corn, soybean, and cotton GE
varieties by U.S. farmers, questions persist regarding their economic and
environmental impacts, the evolution of weed resistance, and consumer
acceptance.
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This report examines issues related to three major stakeholders in
agricultural biotechnology: GE seed suppliers and technology providers
(biotech firms), farmers, and consumers.
GE seed suppliers/technology providers
. The number of field releases for
testing of GE varieties approved by USDA's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) is an important measure of research and
development (R&D) activities in agricultural biotechnology. The number of
releases grew from 4 in 1985 to 1,194 in 2002 and averaged around 800 per
year thereafter. However, while the number of releases peaked in 2002, other
measures of research and development activity—the number of sites per
release and the number of gene constructs (ways that the gene of interest is
packaged together with other elements)—have increased very rapidly since
2005. Also, releases of GE varieties with agronomic properties (like drought
resistance) jumped from 1,043 in 2005 to 5,190 in 2013.
As of September 2013, about 7,800 releases were approved for GE corn,
more than 2,200 for GE soybeans, more than 1,100 for GE cotton, and about
900 for GE potatoes. Releases were approved for GE varieties with herbicide
