GM Crops
Making a success of a recent blockbuster deal in the agribusiness sector will depend significantly on the continued expansion of the market for genetically modified (GM) seeds, which got under way when the first commercial GM crops were planted in 1996. Yet global planting of GM crops declined slightly in 2015, after two decades of rapid growth, and there is little sign of an upturn in the near future. The markets for the crops that have led GM expansion so far – maize, soybeans, cotton and canola – are largely saturated in the countries that are politically and agriculturally hospitable to GM, and few others are poised for introduction.