New and Future GM Crop Applications

Abstract

The previous chapter has shown that the cultivation of GM crops has increased rapidly during the last 20 years with sizeable areas in North and South America, Asia, and to a lesser extent in Africa. However, of the 182 million hectares under GM crops in 2014, 99 percent were grown with only four different crop species (soybean, maize, cotton, and canola) and two modified traits (herbicide tolerance and insect resistance). Almost all of the GM crops available so far were developed and commercialized by the private sector.