For two decades, the amount of GMO crops planted has been surging. Between 2000 and 2014, the area planted in GMO crops around the world grew from 40 million hectares (about 100 million acres), most of which was in the United States, to more than 180 million hectares (440 million acres) spread around the world. In particular, GMO crops have grown widely in South America.
But last year, the number of acres planted in GMO crops declined for the first time since they were introduced to commercial farming. If you’re against GMO crops, it might be tempting to celebrate this decline. However, the reason for this decrease doesn’t seem to be that farmers are turning away from GMO.
The 1% decline — the first in the technology’s 20-year global commercial history — was primarily due to an overall decrease in both GM and non-GM crops caused by low commodity prices, says the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), a non-profit biotech industry group that tracks GM crops.
There does seem to be a market problem for GMO, but it’s not one of resistance from consumers. Instead, it’s a problem caused by widespread acceptance of GMO crops by growers in the areas where legislation allows their use.
But the figures for the last few years show that the existing market for the crops has nearly been saturated.
Only three countries — the United States, Brazil and Argentina — account for more than three-quarters of the total global acreage. And only four crops — corn, soybeans, cotton and canola — account for the majority of biotechnology use in agriculture. In many cases, more than 90 percent of those four crops grown in those three countries, and in other large growers like Canada, India and China, is already genetically modified, leaving little room for expansion.
So GMO declines with the market for these major commodities, because the commodity market and the GMO market are essentially synonymous—in the countries where GMO crops are planted. In other areas, such as Europe, restrictions on the use of GMO crops are the factor that keeps the acreage essentially nil.