Development Status and Future Trend of Global Genetically Modified Crops

With the combined effects of population expansion, water shortages, increasing agricultural water use and climate change in the world today, the possibility of increasing grain production by expanding arable land, increasing production water and fertilizing is very limited, and how to properly solve it The food issue has now become the top priority for all countries in biotechnology. In the various technology strategies that have been carried out, “transgenics” have emerged on the one hand to increase the face of the most promising candidates for food, feed and fiber production in the world. On the one hand, there is a major controversy on the scientific and ethical issues. The focus of attention of various countries.

Overview: Global commercialization of genetically modified crops

The global commercialization of genetically modified crops began in 1996. Subsequently, the countries and areas under cultivation of genetically modified crops continued to increase. In 2011, the cultivated area reached 160 million hectares, which already accounted for 10% of the world's arable land. The current population of 29 GM crop-growing countries exceeds more than half of the world population. The GM crops in the United States, Brazil, Argentina, India, and Canada are among the top five in the world. As the world's largest grower of GM crops, the United States accounts for 43% of the world. Brazil, Argentina, India, China, and South Africa are the five most important GM crop growers in developing countries. Among them, Brazil has driven the growth of global transgenic crops for three consecutive years.

In terms of species, there are 25 kinds of GM crops that are commercially grown globally, mainly soybeans, corn, cotton, and rapeseed. Among them, genetically modified soybean accounts for 47% of the global acreage of genetically modified crops, and genetically modified corn, cotton, and oilseeds account for 32% and 15 respectively. % and 5%.

The global commercialization of genetically modified crops involves 10 developed countries and 19 developing countries. The area under cultivation of genetically modified crops in developing countries can be described as occupying half of the country. Both in terms of absolute growth and growth rate of the planted area, they are significantly higher than developed countries. . In the coming years, those newly added GM crop countries will be mainly Asian and African countries. According to the data from the International Organization for the Application of Agricultural Biotechnology Applications, 90.7 percent of the 16.7 million farmers worldwide who grow GM crops are small-scale and resource-poor farmers in developing countries, and China and India have 7 million households (mainly Planting transgenic cotton).

Policy: Security system building varies from country to country

Since the development of transgenic technology and commercial production, the food safety and environmental safety issues have been debated. With the constant deepening of human understanding of modern biotechnology, the regulation of biotechnology by countries is also being updated. Major countries of GM crop cultivation such as USA, Brazil, Argentina, India and Canada and China, the European Union and Australia have gradually established their own GM technology safety systems, including research on genetically modified products, field trials, production, commercial release, and import of genetically modified products. And genetically modified logos that expand the public’s right to know.

The United States has established a decentralized regulatory system for the management of GM agriculture, providing a relaxed policy environment and stable institutional guarantees for the development of GM agricultural research in the United States. The United States did not separate GM crops from traditional crops. Instead, it follows the principle of substantive equivalence based on scientific research and is supervised through existing regulatory channels.

The EU has been cautious about the listing and safety of genetically modified agricultural products (7.02, -0.01, -0.14%). In spite of the unified supervision of biotechnology by relevant authorities, due to the diversification of industry demand and public perception, the EU member states' approach to genetically modified technology can be divided into the following four situations in terms of policy and market: First, the cultivation of genetically modified crops. Countries, including Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia; and two countries that are preparing to plant GM crops, including Benelux, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom;