July 20, 2007

GM corn acreage quadruples in France
 

GM corn acreage has quadrupled since 2006, according to Luc Esprit, general director of the French corn producers association AGPM.

At present, there are 21,200 hectares sown with GM corn compared with only 5,420 hectares in 2006, Esprit said.

Still, the commercial growing of GM-corn accounts for only 0.75 percent of the total surface cultivated for corn in France, which is about 2.9 million hectares. Of this area, about half (1.4 million hectares) is intended for growing corn for animal feeds.

AGPM foresees an explosion of the commercial cultivation of GM-corn in the next years, mainly because of Spanish demand and increasing damage of devastating insects on the traditional corn crops, Esprit explained. "French farmers are very much interested. A new quadrupling of surfaces in 2008 can be expected", AGPM president Christophe Terrain added.