ISAAA: More than 70 Countries Adopted Biotech Crops since 1996

Since the first year of commercial planting of biotech crops in 1996, more than 70 countries from all over the world have either planted or imported biotech crops. In 1996, the six founder biotech crop countries, the USA, China, Argentina, Canada, Australia, and Mexico, planted these crops in a total of 1.7 million hectares.

In 2018, 70 countries adopted biotech crops - 26 countries planted and 44 imported. The total biotech crop area of 191.7 million hectares in 2018 was grown by 26 countries, 21 developing and 5 industrial countries. Also in 2018, 23 years after the initial planting, biotech crops increased ~113-fold with an accumulated global area of 2.5 billion hectares, making biotechnology the fastest adopted crop technology in the world.

Read more updates on the global status of commercialized biotech/GM crops in these updated ISAAA infographics:

• Where are Biotech Crops Grown in the World? 
• Do you know where biotech crops are grown? 
• 23 Years of Biotech Crops in the World