Brad Gilmour
Mouralea Trade, Agriculture, and Resource Consulting (Canada)
Hugh Dang
Transnational Corporations Review (Canada)
Jennifer Ma
Denfar Transnational Development (Canada)

Agri-biotech is seen as a key driver for agricultural production within a global context. Managing agri-biotech policy related issues, including low level presence, is one of the most significant areas in terms of agri-biotech development. According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), a record 175 million hectares of biotech crops were grown globally in 2013 in 27 countries. This is up from 170 million hectares in 2012, rising at an average growth rate of 12.2% since 2000. The unprecedented 100-fold increase since 1996 makes biotech crops the fastest-adopted technology in modern agricultural history. The primary objective of this special issue is to look into the global agri-biotech policies and regulations and discuss potential implications. In this preamble, we briefly discuss why there is an urgent need to look into the agri-biotech policies. We then briefly discuss the findings of this research collection, which involves a number of well-known social scientists, economists, and policy analysts. Finally, we examine the role of civil society in the agri-biotech policy debate. Read more…