Biotech Crops Reach Billionth Acre Ten years ago, U.S. farmers planted crops produced from biotechnology for the first time. The first genetically engineered crops carried genes that allowed them to survive certain herbicides to provide farmers more economical weed control options that required less soil tillage and were better for the environment. Since then, biotech crops have been introduced which are resistant to major plant diseases and some of the most crop-damaging insects.
2005 Marks Ten Year Anniversary of Biotech Crops June 2005 Ten years ago U.S. farmers planted crops produced from biotechnology for the first time. The first genetically engineered crops carried genes that allowed them to survive certain herbicides to provide farmers more economical weed control options that required less soil tillage and were better for the environment. Since then, biotech crops have been introduced which are resistant to major plant diseases and some of the most crop-damaging insects. Today, an estimated 75 percent of the processed foods consumers buy from grocery store shelves contain at least one ingredient resulting from a biotech crop. And consumers can find high-quality, unblemished biotech vegetables and fruits -- ranging from insect- resistant sweet corn to disease-resistant papaya -- in the produce aisle. While providing consumers a safe and more abundant food supply, biotech crops have become the most rapidly adopted technology in agriculture's history. Now, a decade later, the one-billionth acre of biotech crops is maturing somewhere in the world. It's an apt time to look at some of the ways biotechnology is impacting the world's food and fiber supply. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) releases its 2005 Crop Production Acreage Report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, June 30, biotech crops -- including corn, soybeans and cotton -- are expected to have continued expanding their share of crop acres as the technology has each year for the past decade. Report to be available at: http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/field/pcp-bba/ At their commercial introduction, proponents of biotech said the crops would boost productivity and help feed a growing world population. Last year, for the first time, biotech crop area in developing countries grew faster than in developed countries, further indicating the important economic, health and social benefits realized by small, resource-poor farmers. Dr. Clive James, founder and chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, a non-profit organization addressing global hunger and poverty through technology transfer to resource-poor farmers, and Thandiwe Myeni, a small-scale farmer growing insect-resistant biotech cotton in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, can bring global perspective to the latest USDA biotech crop report. For more information on how biotechnology is providing a more economical and abundant food supply for the world, while protecting the environment, go to www.isaaa.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- Produced for Council for Biotechnology Information Thandiwe Myeni, a biotech cotton farmer in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa explains how biotechnology has helped improve her farm's crop yield. Video: http://tinyurl.com/c9cbx http://www.arizonabiotech.com/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biotech-news/ http://www.arizonaentrepreneurs.com/ http://www.azhttp.com/ http://www.arizonabiotech.com/index.php http://www.arizonabiotech.com/ <a href="http://www.arizonabiotech.com/";>Arizona Biotech</a> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biotech-news/ <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biotech-news/";>Biotech News</a> http://www.arizonaentrepreneurs.com/ <a href="http://www.arizonaentrepreneurs.com/";>Arizona Entrepreneurs</a> http://www.azhttp.com/ <a href="http://www.azhttp.com/";>Arizona High Tech</a> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biotech-news/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
