Biotech Maize On Rise In Europe

Avatar for Matt Hopkins By Scott C. Lucas|30 May 2006

Daniel Cheron, director of Vilmorin, a French seed producer, estimates that France will increase maize plantings from about 1,000 hectares to 5,000 hectares, and Miroslav Tyl, a farming consultant in the Czech Republic, says the country is expected to increase maize plantings from 270 to as much as 3,000 hectares by the end of 2006, according to ISAAA. The Czech Republic is now in fifth place among European countries that are growing GM maize. Spain still leads with plantings of 50,000 hectares.