The First Decade of Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States—Ten years after the first generation of genetically engineered (GE) crops became commercially available in the U.S. the adoption of GE corn, soybean, and cotton has increased rapidly. Plantings were driven by farmers' expectations of higher yields, savings in management time, and lower pesticide costs. Despite these benefits, environmental and consumer concerns may have limited acceptance of GE crops, particularly in Europe. |
Agricultural Biotechnology Intellectual Property—As the pace of scientific discovery in agricultural biotechnology has accelerated over the past few decades, the use of patents and other intellectual property rights to protect these discoveries has increased. This database identifies and describes U.S. utility patents on inventions in biotechnology and other biological processes used in food and agriculture. |