How widely used are biotechnology crops?
According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), biotechnology plantings as a percentage of total crop plantings in the United States in 2004 were about 46 percent for corn, 76 percent for cotton, and 85 percent for soybeans. NASS conducts an agricultural survey in all states in June of each year. The report issued from the survey contains a section specific to the major biotechnology derived field crops and provides additional detail on biotechnology plantings. The most recent report may be viewed at the following website: http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu For a summary of these data, see the USDA Economic Research Service data feature at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/BiotechCrops/ The USDA does not maintain data on international usage of genetically engineered crops. The independent International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a not-for-profit organization, estimates that the global area of biotech crops for 2004 was 81.0 milli
