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Please note that the GMO Compass Database currently is being expanded and updated. Please check back for new entries.
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GM Crops:
Growing around the world |
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In 1996, the first genetically modified seeds were planted in the United States for commercial use. Ten years later, genetically modified crops were grown on 102 million hectares worldwide, an area nearly the size of France and Germany combined.
The country with the most area of GM crops is the United States followed by Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. China and India are also high on the list with its rapidly expanding cultivation of GM cotton.
In the EU, only one GM maize event is cultivated, all in all on about 108,000 hectares.
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Cultivation 2008: Rising trend: Genetically modified crops worldwide on 125 million hectares
In 2008, the cultivation of GM crops grew worldwide once again. Compared with 2007, the area dedicated to such plants rose by 9.4 per cent to 125 million hectares. Bolivia, Egypt and Burkina Faso cultivated GM crops for the first time in 2008. A sum of 25 countries used genetic engineering commercially.
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Cultivation 2008: Cultivation of GM maize on 108,000 hectares
The acreage of GM crops in the European Union fell slightly in 2008 in comparison to last year. The reason: in France, the cultivation of genetically modified Bt maize was banned in 2008. Significant growth was mainly in the Czech Republic, Romania and Poland.
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Soy, maize, cotton and rapeseed: The big four
Soy, maize, cotton, and rapeseed account for almost all commercial GMO production. Gm plants are grown mainly in North and South America, but increasingly also in India, China and South Africa.
Area under crops and cultivating countries:
Soybean
Maize
Rapeseed
Cotton
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Cultivation of GM crops in the USA in 2008: Area increases to 60 million hectares
For farmers in the U.S., green genetic engineering remains a matter of course. In 2008 GM plants occupied nearly 60 million hectares, up 10 percent over 2007. The proportion of GM maize also increased another 7 percent to 80 percent in 2008. GM soybeans and GM cotton are quite common.
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 | Breeding Aims |
 | GM Crops: Specific Information and Future Projects |
 | Processed Foods: GMOs? |
 | GM Food and Feed: Safe? |
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