United States Department of Agriculture

A report summary from the Economic Research Service

ERS is a primary source 

of economic research and 

analysis from the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, 

providing timely information on economic and policy 

issues related to agriculture, 

food, the environment, and 

rural America.

www.ers.usda.gov

November 2016

Find the full report at 

www.ers.usda.gov/

publications/eib-economic-informationbulletin/eib-163

What Is the Issue?

Genetically engineered (GE) varieties of corn, soybeans, and cotton with herbicide-tolerant 

and/or insect-resistant traits were commercially introduced in the United States in 1996. Twenty 

years later, most corn, cotton, and soybean farmers use these varieties, and the impacts of adoption have been widely documented. By contrast, relatively little is known about the adoption 

of GE alfalfa, canola, and sugarbeets, crops that add substantial value to the U.S. agricultural 

sector. For instance, alfalfa is the fourth largest crop in the United States in terms of acreage 

and production value. It was also the first widely grown GE perennial to be commercialized. 

GE alfalfa and GE sugarbeets have been subjects of recent legal controversies.

What Did the Study Find?

Most GE varieties of alfalfa, canola, and sugarbeets have herbicide-tolerant (HT) traits. The 

most common of these varieties are resistant to glyphosate.

Alfalfa

•	 Approximately 18 million acres of alfalfa, with a production value of $10.7 billion, were 

harvested in the United States in 2013. Alfalfa is the fourth largest crop in the United 

States (in terms of acreage and production value). South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, 

Idaho, and Wisconsin account for 42 percent of national acreage devoted to alfalfa.

•	 The first GE HT alfalfa varieties were deregulated by USDA in June 2005. Deregulation 

facilitates commercialization by allowing the introduction (importation, interstate movement, and environmental release) of the GE organism without further authorization from 

USDA. Following legal action from environmental groups in March 2007, plantings 

were temporarily suspended while USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

(APHIS) prepared an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Once the applicable regulatory requirements were satisfied, GE HT alfalfa was fully deregulated in February 2011. 

Planting resumed that spring.

•	 Alfalfa is a perennial crop with an average of 6-7 years between plantings. Approximately 

3.5 million acres were newly seeded in 2013 (14 percent of the acres that were harvested 

that year). Nearly one-third of this newly seeded alfalfa acreage was GE HT.

•	 Data from USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) indicate that GE 

HT alfalfa constituted 13 percent of the alfalfa acres harvested in 2013.

Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo, Seth Wechsler, 

and Daniel Milkove

The Adoption of Genetically 

Engineered Alfalfa, Canola, and

Sugarbeets in the United States

Economic

Research

Service

Economic 

Information

Bulletin

Number 163

November 2016

The Adoption of Genetically 

Engineered Alfalfa, Canola, and

Sugarbeets in the United States

Jorge Fernandez-Cornejo, Seth Wechsler, 

and Daniel Milkove

United States Department of Agriculture
•	 GE HT alfalfa adoption rates were highest in New York, where approximately 37 percent of the acres 

that were harvested in 2013 were produced using GE HT. Adoption rates were also relatively high in 

Washington and Colorado.

•	 ARMS data from 2013 suggest that farmers who planted GE HT alfalfa had higher yields than farmers 

who planted conventional seeds. On average, adopters’ yields were 0.53 ton per acre, approximately 17 

percent higher than the yields of other farmers.

Canola

•	 Approximately 1.3 million acres of canola (an edible version of rapeseed), with a production value of 

$456 million, were harvested in the United States in 2013. North Dakota, Oklahoma, Montana, Idaho, 

and Washington accounted for 96 percent of U.S. canola production.

•	 GE HT canola varieties were deregulated in 1998. ARMS data indicate that GE HT canola accounted for 

95 percent of U.S. canola acres that were harvested in 2013. While this result is based on a small sample, 

it is consistent with estimates obtained from other sources.

Sugarbeets

•	 Approximately 1.2 million acres of sugarbeets, with a production value of $1.6 billion, were harvested 

in 2013. Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho, and Michigan accounted for over 80 percent of sugarbeet 

production in 2013.

•	 APHIS deregulated the first GE HT sugarbeets in 1998. Small amounts of these varieties were produced 

for testing and seed production in 2006 and 2007. GE HT sugarbeets were commercially introduced 

in 2008, and about 60 percent of total acreage was planted with GE HT seeds in that year. ARMS data 

indicate that over 99 percent of harvested acreage was produced using GE HT seeds in 2013.

•	 Previous studies suggest that using GE HT-based production systems increases sugarbeet root yields and 

reduces herbicide and labor costs.

How Was the Study Conducted?

This report uses simple statistical methods and information from secondary sources to analyze the adoption 

of genetically engineered alfalfa, canola, and sugarbeets. The primary source is USDA’s 2013 Agricultural 

Resource Management Survey, which is jointly managed by USDA’s Economic Research Service and USDA, 

National Agricultural Statistics Service. Other data sources include publications by the International Service 

for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) and the 2012 Census of Agriculture.

www.ers.usda.gov

Adoption of genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant (GE HT) sugarbeet

Note: Because alfalfa is a perennial, new alfalfa seedings represent a small percent of the total GE alfalfa in production. 

Therefore, adoption rates for HT alfalfa were calculated as a percent of harvested acreage. Adoption rates for HT canola 

and HT sugarbeets were estimated as a percent of planted acreage.

Source: USDA, Economic Research Service using data from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech 

Applications, Brookes and Barfoot (2014), Johnson et al. (2008), and National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percent adoption

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Alfalfa Sugarbeets Canola