03/03 18:37 US gene-modified soybean acres could hit 40 mln
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - U.S. plantings of genetically-modified soybeans
"could reach 40 million acres" in 1999, an industry official said on Wednesday.
That would be over half of expected total plantings this year, Mike Yost, president of
the American Soybean Association told a House Agriculture Committee panel during
a hearing on biotech issues.
Last year, U.S. farmers planted an estimated 27 million acres of genetically-modified
soybeans, or 38 percent of total plantings, a second industry official said.
Biotech corn acres totaled 19.6 million acres in 1998, or 25 percent of U.S.
plantings, said L.Val Giddings, vice-president of the Biotechnology Industry
Organization.
Modified cotton varieties were planted on 5.8 million acres in 1998, or 45 percent of
total U.S. area, Giddings said.
Jay Hardwick, a farmer representing the National Cotton Council, told the panel that
nearly 60 percent of U.S. cotton acreage will be planted with biotech varieties in
1999.
Around the world, farmers planted approximately 69.5 million acres of
genetically-modified crops in 1998, including 58 million in the United States,
Giddings said.
5.3 million acres of genetically-modified canola and 60,000 acres of
genetically-modified potatoes were planted in the United States and Canada last
year, he said.
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