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Chapter One
Plant Agriculture: The Impact
of Biotechnology
GRAHAM BROOKES
PG Economics Ltd, Frampton, Dorchester, United Kingdom
1.0. CHAPTER SUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES
1.0.1. Summary
Since the first stably transgenic plant produced in the early 1980s and the first
commercialized transgenic plant in 1995, biotechnology has revolutionized plant agriculture.
More than a billion acres of transgenic cropland has been planted worldwide, with
over 50 trillion transgenic plants grown in the United States alone. In the United States,
over half of the corn and cotton and three-quarters of soybean produced are transgenic
for insect resistance, herbicide resistance, or both. Biotechnology has been the most
rapidly adopted technology in the history of agriculture and continues to expand in much
of the developed and developing world.
1.0.2. Discussion Questions
1. What biotechnology crops are grown and where?
2. Why do farmers use biotech crops?
3. How has the adoption of plant biotechnology i ... read full excerpt from Plant Biotechnology and Genetics: Principles, Techniques and Applications ebook
