July 17, 2006

GM crops becoming more established in the US
 

 

GM crops have gained wide acceptance since their inception in the US in 1996, a USDA report on Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops released on Friday (Jul 14) said.

 

GM soy and cotton with herbicide-tolerant traits have been the most widely and rapidly adopted modified crops in the US, followed by insect-resistant cotton and corn, the report said.

 

Herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops provide farmers with effective weed control. According to statistics in the report, HT soy went from 17 percent of US soy acreage in 1997 to 89 percent in 2006.

 

On the other hand, the adoption of HT corn was much slower as only about 36 percent of US corn were of the HT variety in 2006, the report stated.

 

Insect-resistant crops containing the gene from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) have been available for corn and cotton since 1996. These bacteria protects the plant by producing a protein toxic to specific insects. Plantings of Bt corn grew from 8 percent of US corn acreage in 1997 to 40 percent in 2006.

 

The report suggests recent increases in acreage share may be due to the commercial introduction in 2003/04 of a new Bt corn variety that is resistant to the corn rootworm as well as the European corn borer, both of which are highly destructive to corn yield. The latter was previously the only pest targeted by Bt corn.

 

The report suggests use of Bt corn would likely continue to fluctuate over time, based on expected infestation levels of European corn borer (ECB) and the corn rootworm which are the main pests targeted by the Bt corn.

The report said adoption appears to have leveled out as adoption has already occurred on acreage where it is needed most.

 

As soy is less susceptible to pests, insect-resistant varieties have not been developed.

 

Corn with stacked traits only make up 15 percent of corn acres in 2006. Adoption of all biotech corn was 61 percent.

 

Adoption of GM soy and corn for 2006

 

	Soy	Corn
HT	89%	36%
BT		40%
Stacked		15%
Overall	89%	61%

 

 

 

Among the corn-producing states, Missouri (38 percent) had the highest percentage of Bt corn planted while Ohio had the least (8 percent). For the HT variety, Texas had the highest percentage planted (37 percent), while Illinois had the least (12 percent).

  

Corn with stacked traits was most popular in South Dakota (22 percent) while North Dakota had the highest acreage in all GE varieties ( at 83 percent).

 

As for HT soy, Mississippi had the highest percentage of acreage at 96 percent.

 

GM corn by state, click here

 

GM soy by state