07/12/05 Biotech acres growing

Farm and Ranch July 12, 2005 Transgenic or biotech crops may be controversial but U.S. farmers continue to plant more acres to them. Collins: "Biotech crops, insect resistant and herbicide resistance crops, have been growing steadily since their introduction into U.S. agriculture." That's USDA chief economist Keith Collins, who says biotech crops now represent the majority of U.S. corn, cotton and soybean plantings based on USDA's June survey of planted acreage. Collins: "That 52 percent of the corn acreage is a biotech variety compared to 48% last year. Likewise soybeans is up from 85% to 87% this year and cotton as well from 76 to 79%." There are lots of reasons for that. Among them, biotech crops generally lower a farmer's input costs while boosting yields. Collins: "And so their pervasiveness is an economic decision on the part of producers." The Council for Biotechnology Information in Washington D.C. says that more than eight million farmers in 17 countries planted biotech crops last year. The pro-biotech organization says 90 percent of those farmers were in developing countries One concern with biotech crops is the potential to cross pollinate with non-biotech varieties. A Nebraska corn breeder has developed a corn that rejects any pollen but its own. The patented corn called PuraMaize is awaiting approval from regulatory agencies and is expected to hit the market in 2006 on a limited basis and be widely available in 2007. There is not yet any commercialized biotech wheat as marketplace acceptance is a major hurdle to its introduction. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.