Agriculture
The number of hectares of biotech crops increased 8% in 2011 to 160 million. Twenty-nine countries grew biotech crops last year, led by the US (43% of total hectares), Brazil (19%) and Argentina (15%). Twelve countries planted stacked-trait crops, which accounted for 42.2 million hectares. Brazil was the country whose hectarage of biotech crops grew the fastest last year, rising 20%. The main biotech crop continues to be soybean, which made up 47% of biotech crop hectares. Biotech maize and biotech cotton accounted for 32% and 15%, respectively. The biotech crop trait most widely planted was herbicide tolerance, which accounted for 59% of biotech crop hectares, followed by stacked and triple traits, which accounted for 26%. Among crop traits, stacked traits showed the fastest increase in the amount of hectares, rising 31%. The biotech seed market totaled $13.2 billion in 2011, and the discovery, development and authorization costs for a new biotech crop were valued at $135 million. In total, 60 countries have approved biotech crops for import for use as food or feed.
Source: International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications