US Figures for 2002 GE Crop Planting Released Today 
Among Worldwide Rejection of GE Crops 

Greenpeace 28mar02

AMSTERDAM -- Official prospective planting figures for genetically engineered (GE) crops have been released today by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). They reveal an increase for plantings of GE soya (up from 68 to 74 percent of the US soya acreage), cotton (up from 69 to 71 percent ) and maize/corn (up from 26 to 32 percent) in the United States in 2002. 

The new figures stand in contrast to a wealth of evidence that clearly demonstrates increasing worldwide rejection of GE crops. In reality, just two countries (the US and Argentina) account for 90 percent of GE crop acreage in the world. Just two crops (soya and maize/corn) account for 82 percent of that acreage. Just one company, Monsanto, accounts for 91 percent of the world total area sown to GE crops.

Greenpeace spokesperson Jean-François Fauconnier said: "The increase in GE crop planting in the US is another blow to the environment, but considering the political and agricultural influence exerted by Monsanto in the US, it was not unexpected. Thankfully and more importantly, the clearer international trend, which today's figures cannot dispute, is that the growing of GE crops is isolated to a few countries and that worldwide rejection of GE crops is growing."

"American shoppers are demanding safe, GE-Free food, and food companies are responding," added Charles Margulis, Greenpeace Genetic Engineering Specialist. "These companies know that Americans don't want genetic experiments in our food, and they're sending the biotech industry packing."

The new Greenpeace briefing "GE crops - increasingly isolated as awareness and rejection grow" documents the worldwide isolation and rejection of GE crops.

Farmers planting more biotech crops this year despite international resistance

PHILIP BRASHER, AP 28mar02

WASHINGTON  -- American farmers will plant more genetically engineered crops this year, including one-third of the corn on U.S. soil, shrugging off international resistance to biotech food.

The farmers are expected to grow more than 79 million acres of genetically engineered corn and soybeans, the nation's two most widely planted commodities, a 13 percent increase from last year, according to the Agriculture Department's spring survey.

The gene-altered crops require fewer chemicals, making them easier and cheaper to grow. The crops are engineered to be toxic to insect pests or to be resistant to a popular weedkiller.

"Farming has become so competitive, so small margin, that if we can find something that works economically and environmentally we'll jump on it," said Minnesota farmer Gerald Tumbleson, who grows biotech corn and soybeans.

About 74 percent of this year's soy crop, or 54 million acres, will be genetically engineered, compared with 68 percent last year and 54 percent in 2000, the department said Thursday. Soy is a critical ingredient for a wide variety of foods and, like corn, also is used for animal feed.

Some 32 percent of the corn crop, or 25.3 million acres, will be of biotech varieties, compared with 26 percent in 2001 and 25 percent the year before.

Strong consumer resistance to agricultural biotechnology has arisen in Europe and Japan, but most U.S.-grown corn and soy is used domestically.

"The farmer looks at it strictly from profitability," said commodities analyst Don Roose. "They're not shying away from it."

About 10.5 million acres of cotton, or 71 percent of this year's cotton crop, will be bioengineered. Last year, 69 percent of the cotton was gene-altered.

The corn and cotton are considered better for the environment because they reduce the use of insecticides.

The biotech soybeans save farmers time. The crop contains a bacterium gene that makes the soybeans immune to Roundup herbicide. To control weeds in conventional soybeans, farmers must either cultivate more often or spray their fields more frequently with less powerful weedkillers. Critics are concerned Roundup is being used so much that weeds will develop resistance to it.

In Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas and Indiana, 80 percent or more of the soybean crop is expected to be biotech.

The popular varieties of biotech cotton are either Roundup-immune or else produce their own pesticide. Most of the genetically engineered corn that farmers plant was designed to kill a common insect pest, the European corn borer.

The crops were first commercialized in the mid- to late 1990s, and the Agriculture Department has surveyed their use nationally since 2000.

The biotechnology industry was set back in 1999 by research raising fears, since alleviated, that the biotech corn was killing off Monarch butterflies. The following year, the industry was embarrassed when a type of gene-altered corn was found in the food supply without being approved for human consumption.

Thursday's report "shows the continued high confidence that U.S. farmers have placed in seeds improved through biotechnology," said Michael Phillips of the Biotechnology Industry Organization."

Other biotech crops, such as potatoes and tomatoes, have met resistance from farmers and the food industry, and wheat growers are nervous about the pending introduction of Roundup-resistant wheat. Wheat is far more dependent on export markets than other crops.

"That is a huge factor, the extent to which a crop is going to be exported," said Jane Rissler, a biotech critic with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Agriculture Department survey also predicts that farmers will increase their total plantings of corn this year, while cutting back on soybeans, wheat and cotton.

The total corn crop is expected to reach 79 million acres, a 4 percent increase from 2001, while plantings of soybeans are expected to drop 2 percent to 73 million acres. Farmers gave a variety of reasons for planting less soy, including uncertainty about how the government will subsidize the commodity after lawmakers finish an overhaul of farm programs.

The wheat crop this year is expected to total 59 million acres, down 1 percent from last year and the lowest level in 30 years.

The cotton crop is estimated at 14.8 million acres this year, 6 percent below last year.

Biotech Crop Plantings Rise Again in 2002 

REUTERS 29mar02

WASHINGTON -- American farmers will plant more biotech crops this year, with nearly three-fourths of all soybeans and one-third of corn grown from gene-spliced seeds, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday.

The new USDA estimates showed growers continuing to embrace the new bio-crops which are designed to trim chemical costs and boost yields.

The estimates are based on data submitted by U.S. farmers as they purchase seed and prepare for spring planting. The department will fine-tune its forecast for bio-crops in June when actual plantings have been completed.

Despite the increase in 2002 plantings of gene-altered soybeans, corn and cotton, some green groups contend that consumer concerns about the safety of bio-foods have slowed the introduction of new crops such as potatoes and rice.

``After more than five years of major marketing of biotech varieties, just two crops still account for almost all of the genetically altered food sold in U.S. supermarkets,'' said Charles Margulis of Greenpeace.

Critics have urged the government to impose stricter controls and tests to ensure long-term safety for humans and animals. In February, a National Academies of Science report urged the USDA to tighten its reviews of potential environmental effects of new biotech crops before approving them for commercial use.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization, a pro-biotech group, said the new USDA data showed farmers are convinced of the value of gene-enhanced crops.

``Clearly the benefits of these improved seed varieties help farmers to strengthen crops by making them more resistant to disease, increase crop yields and reduce the use of pesticides,'' the industry group said in a statement.

BIO-CORN TO BE 32 PCT OF CROP

The USDA said the biggest 2002 jump in engineered crops will come in cornfields, where farmers plan to boost biotech varieties to 32 percent of the 79 million acres of corn to be grown in the United States this year. Last year, farmers planted 26 percent of their cornfields with gene-enhanced varieties, the USDA said.

Most will be so-called Bt corn, which is engineered to produce a natural insecticide that repels pests that like to feed on young plants.

All but two of the 11 major corn-growing states -- Missouri and Ohio -- will increase bio-corn plantings, the USDA said.

Biotech soybeans will rise to 74 percent of the entire U.S. soybean crop grown on nearly 73 million acres this year, up from 68 percent last year, according to the USDA data.

Virtually all of the bio-soybeans are Roundup Ready varieties, which enable farmers to spray their soybean fields with a single chemical to kill a variety of weeds without affecting the soy plant.

All 14 major states which grow soybeans will have increases in biotech plantings in 2002, the USDA said.

The new U.S. soybean estimate comes amid concerns from China, a major world buyer, about biotech soybeans. On Thursday, Beijing clarified new rules on imports of biotech foods, which it had announced previously, and said U.S. exporters did not have to obtain as many safety permits as originally thought.

Gene-altered cotton planted in 2002 showed a smaller increase, rising to 71 percent of the entire 14.5 million acres of U.S. upland cotton crop this year, the USDA said. Last year, bio-cotton accounted for 69 percent of total U.S. plantings.

Farmers in Louisiana and North Carolina, however, said they would slightly trim their bio-cotton plantings, according to the USDA report.