Biotechnology in U.S. Crop Production: A Primer on Adoption, Costs, and Regulatory Structure

Genetically engineered (GE) crop varieties have achieved widespread adoption in major field crops, accounting for more than 90 percent of corn, soybean, and cotton acreage in the United States since 2013. This report examines adoption, costs, and the regulatory structure of agricultural biotechnology, focusing on both transgenic GE and emerging gene-edited crops. Major findings highlight that farmers pay higher prices for GE seeds relative to conventional seeds, primarily because GE seeds provide improved pest control, yield stability, and labor savings. Gene-editing technologies can enable faster and lower-cost development, and a wider variety of crop traits, than earlier genetic engineering methods. These traits may be especially well-suited for specialty crops, potentially bringing innovations to market with less time and expense than is required for traditional GE traits. Key challenges, like weed resistance to herbicides and insect resistance to pesticides, continue to spur innovations in new GE traits. A review of the literature suggests gene editing could reduce development costs by roughly 40−85 percent and decrease the time to commercialization by 25−38 percent as the technology adapts to a wider range of species and traits. The regulatory environment also plays a role: new products spent less time in regulatory review under revised USDA regulations for GE crops that were in effect from August 2020−December 2024.