Genetically modified crops resumed their march across the world’s farmland last year, with GM plants covering a record 185m hectares — 3 per cent more than 2015. By far the largest increase was in Brazil, the engine of global GM growth, where the area expanded by 11 per cent to 44m hectares.
The figures come from the most authoritative annual survey of GM crops worldwide, carried out by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, a global network of non-profit centres that promote agricultural biotechnology. The equivalent ISAAA study a year ago had shown a small decrease in planting, the first since GM crops were commercialised 20 years ago.
Paul Teng of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, ISAAA chair, attributed the upturn to various factors in different parts of the world. “There was some recovery in commodity prices, which had a positive effect particularly in the US,” he said. “Favourable weather led to an increase in planting in several countries.