USDA releases annual report showing GMO planted acres

The Department of Agriculture says more than 90 percent of U.S. corn, cotton and soybeans are produced using genetically engineered seeds. Through an annual report on GE planted crops, USDA’s Economic Research Service says most of these GE seeds are herbicide-tolerant, insect-resistant, or both, known as stacked traits. 

The share of U.S. soybean acres planted with herbicide-tolerant seeds rose from seven percent in 1996 to 68 percent in 2001, before plateauing at 94 percent in 2014. Insect-resistant soybeans are not yet commercially available. Adoption rates for herbicide-tolerant corn grew relatively slowly at first, but then plateaued at 89 percent in 2014. The share of insect-resistant corn acreage grew from approximately eight percent in 1997 to 82 percent in 2020. 

USDA says increases in adoption rates for insect-resistant corn may be due to the commercial introduction of new varieties resistant to the corn rootworm and the corn earworm. Meanwhile, herbicide-resistant cotton acres in 2019 reached 95 percent, and insect-resistant cotton was 88 percent of total planted acres.