CHICAGO (Reuters) — Farmers in the United States and Brazil, two agricultural powerhouses, last year increased plantings of biotech crops faster than the global rate of expansion for such plantings, according to a report issued on Wednesday.
U.S. farmers planted biotech crops on 180.6 million acres, up 4.3 percent from 2013, while Brazil increased biotech plantings by 4.7 percent to 104.3 million acres, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications said.
Globally, biotech plantings rose 3.6 percent to a record 448.5 million acres, according to the group, which promotes the use of biotechnology in agriculture.
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Australian farmers are forecast to grow slightly more canola and barley this year, while wheat production may dip, according to the latest estimates from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).
In both countries, the top biotech crops included corn, soybeans and cotton.
Critics have previously accused the ISAAA of inflating planting figures in an attempt to show growing support for biotech crops, which are genetically modified to resist drought and pests and for other traits. Some opponents of biotech crops say they lead to increased pesticide use and environmental damage and have raised concerns over human consumption.
The ISAAA “devoted considerable effort to consolidate all the available data on officially approved biotech crop adoption globally,” said founder Clive James, who authored the report.
The group stands by its data, he added.
