FEW CROPS IN FEW COUNTRIES

GM crop cultivation is confined to just a few countries around the world. 95% of GM crops are cultivated in the US, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada and China. The other 19 countries (out of a total of 25) that the ISAAA reports on collectively grew a mere seven million hectares.9 Almost 60% of all GM crop field trials worldwide are carried out in the US.10 According to ISAAA’s annual report 2009, GM crops occupy 134 million hectares.11 This is out of a total area of global agricultural land of over 4.9 billion hectares,12 meaning that the combined area of all GM crops in 2009 covered just 2.7% of all agricultural land. Over 97% of global farmland remains GM-free. Despite public and private investment for over three decades, GM crops have also failed to address global food security concerns,13 or to consistently raise yields.14 Just four crops - soya, maize, oilseed rape and cotton – dominate almost all the production on land under GM cultivation. Staple food crops such as wheat, rice, cassava, barley, oats, sorghum and millet are GM-free as far as commercial production is concerned. The cultivation of GM potatoes for industrial use in Europe is marred by controversy. Despite PR by biotech companies and pro-GM research institutes, acceptance of GM crops is in fact declining, even in the countries that have historically cultivated the largest areas of GM crops. In the US, a hugely pro-GM country, GM alfalfa has been banned from commercial cultivation15 and sugar beet seedlings were ordered to be uprooted due to inadequate environmental impact assessments,16 and in India, Bt brinjal – its first GM food crop - remains banned.17 In Brazil the commercial release of Bayer’s GM maize has been stopped.18 In Europe concern about GM food is on the increase, while the area under

GM cultivation continues to fall.19

Crystal

www.foei.org/en/resources/.../pdfs/.../who-benefits-from-gm-crops-2011