Acreage of genetically modified crops 2015-2019, by country

This statistic reflects the total acreage of genetically modified crops of the leading countries from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, the United States planted 71.5 million hectares of biotech crops. Their biotech crops include maize, soybean, cotton, canola, sugar beet, alfalfa, papaya, squash and potato.

Genetically modified crops

Genetic modifications of crops are done for many reasons, for example, to attain desirable traits or to make crops resistant to pests or herbicides. Since 2003, the acreage of genetically modified crops has generally been increasing. Globally, soybeans and corn are the most commonly adopted biotech products.

U.S. Genetically modified crop production

From 2018 to 2020, herbicide tolerant soybeans made up 94 percent of the total soybean crop acreage in the United States. Some types of genetically modified cotton and corn made up more than three quarters or the total acreage as well. As of 2019, there were about 30.43 million hectares of genetically modified soybeans in the U.S., but this is a slight decrease from the previous year.