GM crops use rises by 12%

Feb 15 2008 by Tom Patterson, The Journal

THE global use of GM crops increased by 12% last year to reach 114 million hectares across 23 countries, a new report shows.

Around 11 million of the 12 million farmers now growing biotech crops are “resource-poor”, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications.

But while the report’s author Clive James said GM crops would be increasingly important for cutting poverty and hunger by 2015, Friends of the Earth claimed biotech farming was not delivering on the promised benefits.

In Europe, there was a 77% growth in biotech crops with more than 100,000 hectares cultivated – most of which was maize grown in Spain.

The National Farmers’ Union chief science and regulatory affairs adviser Helen Ferrier said the growth of GM around the world showed the UK was getting left behind.

Competitors to British farmers were benefiting from GM crops and products grown for animal feed, she said.

“It highlights the fact that the UK can’t put its head in the sand with biotech crops. It needs the whole issue looked at in the context of global production,” she said.

The Agricultural Biotechnology Council said there had been a 70-fold increase in GM crops over the last decade and farmers were choosing to grow them because of the better yields, environmental benefits and lower pesticide use.

Dr Julian Little, chairman of the council, also said: “GM crops are one of a range of tools that have the potential to help farmers reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimise the environmental footprint of agriculture.”