St. Louis, Missouri
April 8, 2008

Source: Conversations about Plant Biotechnology

Plantings and adoption of benetically modified crops increase in 2007
Online Video Summarizes Key Results and Statistics

In a new online video and podcast released today, Clive James, chairman and founder of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), shares the results of his recently released 2007 report on the global status of genetically modified crops. 

According to the report, genetically modified crops were planted on 282.4 million acres (114.3 million hectares) in 2007, reflecting a 12 percent increase over 2006 and the second highest area increase in the past five years.

“And what we see in the 12th year of commercialization, which is 2007, is that we witnessed a 12 percent increase in acreage on a global basis.  And this has benefited 12 million farmers around the globe,” says James.   “That’s a very significant increase.  And particularly important is that of that 12 million farmers, 11 million farmers were resource poor farmers in developing countries.  They represent some of the poorest people in the world.”

In 2007, farmers in 23 countries planted genetically modified crops including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Honduras, India, Mexico, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, the United States and Uruguay.

“Of the 23 countries, 12 were developing countries and 11 were industrial countries.  So the growth that we are seeing is in the developing countries of the world where this technology can have its biggest impact,” continues James.  “And this means that you are making a very important contribution to the alleviation of poverty.”

According to the report, adoption of genetically modified crops among resource-poor farmers is delivering unprecedented benefits that contribute toward the Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty by 50 percent by 2015. The potential in the second decade of genetically modified crop commercialization (2006-2015) is enormous.

This new video summarizing the key results and statistics of genetically modified crops in 2007 can be viewed, downloaded or embedded into another Web site from the Conversations about Plant Biotechnology Web site. 

The complete report on the Global Status of GM Crops in 2007 is available on the ISAAA Web site.   This report is entirely funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, a U.S.-based philanthropic organization associated with the Green Revolution; Ibercaja, one of the largest Spanish banks headquartered in the maize-growing region of Spain; and the Bussolera-Branca Foundation from Italy, which supports the open-sharing of  knowledge on biotech crops to aid decision-making  by global society.

The Conversations about Plant Biotechnology is designed to give a voice and a face to the farmers and families who grow GM crops and the experts who research and study the benefits of biotechnology in agriculture. The Web site contains more than 70 two- to three-minute, extremely candid, straightforward and compelling video segments with the people who know the technology best. The Web site is hosted by Monsanto Company — a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality.

© 2008 Monsanto Company

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