In 2008, three new countries and 1.3 million new farmers were able to experience the benefits associated with biotech crops. The total planted area grew 10.7 million hectares reaching 125 million hectares or 166 million “trait hectares”. The number of countries growing biotech crops soars to 25, a historical milestone, with Burkina Faso, Egypt and Bolivia planting for the first time. These are the highlights of ISAAA Brief 39: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2008, authored by Dr. Clive James, chair and founder of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). Other highlights of the report include:

• Accumulatively, the second billionth acre (800 millionth hectare) of a biotech crop was planted – only 3 years after the first one-billionth acre of a biotech crop was planted in 2005
• Biotech soybean continued to be the principal biotech crop in 2008, followed by maize, cotton and canola
• Brazil planted Bt maize, and Australia biotech canola, for the first time
• A new biotech crop, RR®sugar beet, was commercialized in two countries, the USA and Canada
• Developing countries planting biotech crops out-numbered industrial countries by 15 to 10
• Ten countries planted biotech crops with stacked traits in 2008

For the Highlights and Executive Summary of the 2008 ISAAA report log on to http://www.isaaa.org The companion document, Drought Tolerance in Maize: An Emerging Reality, is also available in the website..