Biotech crops are considered as the fastest adopted crop technology in the history of modern agriculture, according to ISAAA Pocket K 16: Biotech Crop Highlights in 2018. From the initial planting of 1.7 million hectares in 1996 when the first biotech crop was commercialized, the 191.7 million hectares planted in 2018 indicates a ~113-fold increase.
Of the 26 countries that planted biotech crops in 2018, 18 countries were considered as biotech mega-countries, which grew at least 50,000 hectares. USA remained as the top producer of biotech crops globally, which planted 75 million hectares in 2018, covering 39% of the global biotech crop plantings. Brazil landed on the second spot, with 51.3 million hectares or 27% of the global output.
Pocket K 16 is based on the ISAAA report Global Status of Commercialized GM/Biotech Crops: 2018. Pocket Ks are Pockets of Knowledge, packaged information about crop biotechnology products and related issues. It is developed by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology to deliver key agri-biotech information in easy-to-understand style and downloadable as PDF for easy sharing and distribution.
Download Pocket K 16 from the ISAAA website.
Source: ISAAA
