Of the 1.5 billion hectares of cultivated land worldwide, >7% was planted with transgenic crops last year. These crops were grown by >10 million farmers, 90% of whom are small farmers in economically emerging nations like China, India, the Philippines and South Africa. By far the majority were Bt or herbicide-resistant crops. Although the United States still accounted for more than half of transgenic farmland, 40% was sown in developing countries, where transgenic plantings grew by 21%; Europe still lags far behind.
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Lawrence, S. Agbiotech booms in emerging nations. Nat Biotechnol 25, 271 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0307-271
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0307-271
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