QUALITY CHANGES, DUST GENERATION, AND COMMINGLING ...

2.2 Impact of Undesirable Grain Commingling During Commercial Handling
2.2.1 Trends in Biotech Crops
In 2008, the global value of approved genetically modified (GM) or biotech crops has
reached $7.5 billion, with an accumulated historical milestone value of $50 billion from the
period 1996 to 2008 (James, 2008). GM crops are planted by 13.3 million farmers globally in 25
countries, 90% of which are small and resource-poor farmers in developing countries. The top
eight countries each growing more than 1 million hectares were USA, Argentina, Brazil, India,
Canada, China, Paraguay, and South Africa (Table 2.1). Among GM crops planted worldwide
were soybeans, corn, cotton, canola, squash, papaya, alfalfa, sugar beets, tomatoes, poplars,
petunias, sweet peppers, and carnations. Advantages cited from using GM crops were more
affordable food, feed, and fiber; less pesticide usage (Falck-Zepeda et al., 2000; Marra et al.,
2002; James, 2004); reduced production cost; increased yield; reduced dockage (i.e., for
Roundup Ready wheat); and increased profitability (Fernandez-Cornejo and McBride, 2000;
Price et al., 2003; Wilson et al., 2003).
Table 2.1 Global area planted with genetically modified crops. [a]
Country Planted Area (million ha) Global Percentage
United States 62.5 50.0
Argentina 21.0 16.8
Brazil 15.8 12.7
India 7.6 6.1
Canada 7.6 6.1
China 3.8 3.0
Paraguay 2.7 2.2
South Africa 1.8 1.4
Other countries 2.1 1.7
TOTAL 124.9 100.0
[a] James, 2008
Uncertainty about genetically modified foods and products, however, has led customers
worldwide to demand grains that are purer, safer, more wholesome, and either containing no GM
grain or strictly controlled levels of GM grain. The 2000 incident on the accidental mixing of an
unapproved variety of GM corn in human food, specifically Aventis’ Starlink TM corn, and the
massive recall of food containing its traces (Taylor and Tick, 2001), added to the customers’
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