Global planting of biotech crops rose 9.4 percent last year as U.S. farmers cultivated genetically modified sugarbeet for the first time and 1.2 million growers in India adopted bioengineered cotton, an industry group said.
The area planted with biotech crops jumped to 125 million hectares (308.9 million acres) from 114.3 million hectares in 2007, according to a report by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications published today.
The value of modified seeds will climb 11 percent this year to $8.3 billion, the ISAAA said, citing biotech consultant Cropnosis. More than 2 billion acres of engineered crops have been planted since their introduction in 1996, and that will double by 2015 as demand grows for seeds that have built-in defenses against bugs, weed killer and drought, the ISAAA said.