Abstract
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For the crop protection and crop production industries this is the Age of
Biology. An age in which the seed industry indisputably plays a critical role.
Any doubts about the potential return on investment in the seed industry must
have been well and truly dispelled. While crop protection chemicals will
continue to produce important revenue for most of the major international
companies, genetics and biotechnology will provide the engine for growth.
The international seed industry is highly sophisticated. Global breeding
programmes integrate different sources of elite germplasm and biotech traits
to produce new hybrids and varieties which can be adapted to local conditions.
Elite germplasm remains the foundation of plant breeding, but the new tool-box
of biotechnology provides the means to characterise and use it more
effectively. Breeding cycles can be reduced, allowing new products to be
developed more quickly and with greater confidence.
The past decade has seen the growth of GM crops, from their introduction in
1996 to 90 million hectares managed by 8.5 million farmers in 21 countries in
2005. The technology has been embraced by farmers in the US, Argentina and
Brazil wanting to improve and facilitate weed control in soybeans, and it has
helped cotton growers in Australia, China and India to reduce insecticide
applications and control key cotton pests, for example.
There is still consumer opposition to GM crops, and their usage in food
products, and reluctance in most countries to approve planting of food crops,
such as rice and wheat. The scorecard is definitely mixed. However, GM crops
will continue to expand in existing markets and there are signs that pressures
are building to use the powerful technology of genetic engineering to increase
the rate of progress in agricultural productivity in other countries.
Scope and methodology
A report of this nature and scope has require the accumulation of a large
amount of information. The internet is a huge source of data and every effort
has been made to consult the official websites of key organisations in the
public and private sectors, which are usually the most authoritative sources.
There are many references to the USDA' s Foreign Agricultural Service' s (FAS)
GAIN reports on planting seeds and biotechnology, which are issued by USDA/FAS
staff in key countries on a regular basis. These reports have provided much
critical information on the structure and regulation of the seed industry in
countries other than the UK.
The author was given access to the Agrow World Crop Protection News daily
e-mail updates and online database.
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