www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

The worldwide biotechnology boom in Genetically Modified (GM) crops is set
to continue. World biotech acreages will keep increasing on last year's 90m
ha as more countries adopt the technology, April 2006.

Last year, 4 countries, the Czech Republic, France, Iran and Portugal,
grew transgenic crops for the first time. The uptake of biotech crops with
traits other than herbicide tolerance, which has been so popular so far,
will increase dramatically. The big future will be in plant-made
pharmaceuticals (PMPs) and nutriceutical GM crops. Also, there will be
further development in the area of crops grown for industry, for example
high-starch corn, for use in the manufacture of biofuels.

On the international scale biotech rice will be a big mover soon, after Iran
became the unlikely site of the first commercial planting of GM rice last
year. The big moves will come when major rice growing nations in eastern and
south-east Asia take up the technology.

Much of the hype in the biotech world surrounds nutriceuticals - products
such as high oleic soy oil, and improved nutritional varieties such as high
lysine corn. But there have been good agronomic advances, too, such as
drought resistant cultivars. At present the costs in growing GM crops are
high and it is unlikely to be viable without subsidies, as in the cases of
most countries with a good deal of GM crops. Argentina has not been paying
the seed royalties for using the technology and in America there are
subsidies. What is interesting is in America the 3 biggest GM crops are soy,
corn and cotton, which are also the 3 most highly subsidised crops.

Global factors, like declining availability of arable land, water issues and
climate change means biotechnology becomes increasingly important. The
technology will be a key driver in allowing nations across the globe to meet
their '3F' requirements- food, feed and fibre.

[www.themainreport.co.nz]

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