Grainnet

Des Moines, IA (May 8, 2005) -- The one billionth cumulative acre of biotech crops will be planted somewhere in the world today. A counter designed to track biotech crop acres as they are planted and harvested around the world, researched by Ross Korves, economist and policy analyst for Truth About Trade and Technology (TATT), has indicated that the one billionth acre will likely be planted on Sunday, May 8 or Monday, May 9, 2005.

“The astonishing speed with which farmers from around the world have adopted this technology is significant,” stated Dean Kleckner, an Iowa farmer and Chairman of Truth About Trade and Technology. “It took us a generation to accept pasteurization and the full acceptance and use of hybridization took years and years. Not that long ago, it may have been possible to say that biotech crops were a new fangled concept. Not today. With a billion acres planted – and in their 10th year of commercialization – seeds with biotech traits are a new safe and conventional source of food.”

The TATT biotech counters are based on a starting point established for planted and harvested acres by ISAAA Brief No. 32-2004 Preview- Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2004 by Clive James of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).

On December 31, 2004 the accumulated global biotech acres planted was 951 million acres. In 2004 alone, more than eight million farmers planted 200 million acres of biotech crops in 17 countries. Ninety percent of those farmers are resource-poor farmers from developing countries. While the United States continues to dominate agriculture biotechnology, more than one third of the 2004 biotech crop was grown in developing countries and that percentage is growing rapidly.

“Ten years of use and a billion acres planted around the world have clearly shown the economic benefits of biotech crops” said Korves. “Documented analysis of producer experiences in both developed and developing countries indicate increased economic return as a direct result of biotech crop production.

"Environmental benefits for consumers and producers are realized through less pesticide use and improved soil conservation. With more countries establishing new regulatory frameworks for the use of biotech crops, acreage should continue to expand rapidly in the years ahead,” Korves concluded.

Imagining One Billion Acres

Just how big is a billion acres? It’s big. A billion square acres would circle our planet at the equator more than 1587 times. They would go to the moon and back 164 times. And if you’re wondering about the sun – they’d reach there and back – and still have some length left to spare. If metric is your measure of preference, one billion acres is equivalent to 400 million hectares. That covers the entire land area of the European Union’s 25 countries. (World Factbook, 2004)

See Related Websites/Articles:

• Pioneer Hi-Bred's Comment
• Truth About Trade and Technology

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