Since the United States began large-scale cultivation of transgenic crops in 1997, by 2003, the global cultivation area had exceeded 60 million hectares, accounting for 4.8% of the total global crop area; Up to 94% of the global GM crops are planted in the United States, Canada, Argentina and other countries; Only 5% in Asia and Australia, mainly in China, India and Australia; Africa and Europe accounted for only 1%, mainly South Africa and Spain.

At present, transgenic varieties account for 85%, 76% and 45% of the planting areas of soybeans, cotton and corn in the United States. Wheat has not yet been approved for planting because genetically modified flour cannot be accepted in foreign markets. In Canada, it is estimated that more than 65% of rapeseed is genetically modified. Argentina has planted 95% of GM soybeans. In China, 90% of the cotton planting areas are transgenic varieties.

If the agricultural land of American farmers exceeds 40 armour (38.4 hectares) per household, the willingness to adopt transgenic varieties is high, while the rate of small farmers is low. The main reason is that because transgenic seeds are protected by patents, farmers cannot keep their own seeds, so the cost is high; Large farmers reduce the labor cost of production because of genetically modified varieties, which is more cost-effective. In the United States, many farmers infringed the patent rights of seed companies because they kept their own seeds, so the defendants lost money.

Afraid of consumers' boycott of genetically modified products, many European countries, New Zealand, Brazil, and even several small towns in California, the United States have launched the campaign of "non genetically modified agricultural areas", hoping to prohibit the planting of any genetically modified crops in various regions. The EU emphasizes that farmers should not be deprived of the right to plant genetically modified varieties, but farmers who plant genetically modified varieties also have the obligation to prevent the mixing of genetically modified ingredients into general or organic products.