USDA estimate of GM crops

Abstract

According to the US Agriculture Dept more than half of the US soybean crop this year was planted with genetically modified (GM) seeds, and corn and cotton were not far behind. The new USDA data, collected from interviews with farmers during the summer, were in line with seed companies’ estimates of how much land has been planted with bioengineered crops. Thirty percent of US corn and ∼27% of US cotton planted in 1999 were of the Bt variety (which express Bacillus thuringiensis toxins), some 57% of US soybeans were planted with herbicide-resistant varieties, most of them Roundup Ready™ (Monsanto).