Browse Data and Analysis

In November 2024, the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MinAF) unveiled details of its Agricultural Production Plan (Plan), which aims to optimize and make Turkish agriculture more sustainable.

On March 1, 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MinAF) published two Biosafety Decisions on the production of two more enzymes using Aspergillus oryzae improved by modern biotechnological methods.

Türkiye’s Biosafety Law continues to threaten imports and imposes a heavy financial burden on the country’s agri-food sector. The number of approved of genetically engineered (GE) events remains arbitrarily fixed at 36 and only includes traits in corn and soy for feed use. There are no approvals for food use due to public sensitivities about the technology.

Brazil is the second-largest producer of biotech crops in the world, with 131 events approved for plants. For the 2024/2025 crop season, FAS Brasilia forecasts 68.5 million hectares planted with GE traits. Adoption rates for soybeans and cotton reached 99 percent and for corn, 95 percent.

On June 28, 2024, the Turkish government published biosafety decisions reapproving the import of seven genetically engineered (GE) corn events for feed (Bt11, DAS1507, DAS59122, NK603, GA21, MON89034, MON88017) which had expired, and provided new approvals for three enzymes produced from GE-Aspergillius oryzae for industrial purposes.

Brazil consumes over 12 million tons of wheat and wheat-based products per year, which is more than the country's national production of roughly 9.5 million tons.

Brazil, a BRICS emerging economy, is the world’s sixth-largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter. Change in land use and forests (including deforestation and wildfires) is the main source of GHGs in Brazil, followed closely by agricultural production.

Brazil is the second-largest producer of biotech crops in the world with 105 events approved. For the 2022/2023 crop season, FAS Brasilia forecasts 68 million hectares planted with GE traits. Adoption rates for soybeans and cotton reached 99 percent and for corn, 95 percent.

While Colombia´s regulatory environment remains friendly toward the adoption of biotechnology-derived crops and products, congressional anti-biotechnology initiatives pose a threat to further acceptance, and risk undermining future investments to benefit consumers and the agricultural sector.

Dr. Jose Dubeux from the University of Florida gave a series of presentations in Brazil on the Fertilize 4 Life (F4L) Initiative at the end of September.

The United States and Brazil are world leaders in agricultural research, and our collaboration over the last several decades has been a cornerstone of the close relationship between our two countries.

On December 30, 2022, the Turkish Government published a Biosafety Decision to reapprove the import of a genetically engineered (GE) stacked corn event, NK603 X MON 810, for feed. In a separate government action, the single event MON 810 was canceled due to a recent court decision. With these latest changes, the total number of approved GE events remains at 36.