Despite the initial development and introduction of bioengineered horticultural crops (such as tomatoes, potatoes, sweet corn, squash and papayas), little acreage of these is currently in commercial production. There has been a marked reduction in research and investment in biotechnology for horticultural crops. In the peak year of 1999, there were 374 field-test notifications or permits filed for biotech horticultural crops; in 2003, the total number had fallen to 97. This contrasts with continued research in biotech corn, cotton and soybeans, for which 506 permits or notifications were recorded in 1999 versus 520 in 2003. Even corrected for differences in crop value, horticultural crops are receiving less research investment per dollar of crop production, and no biotech horticultural variety has been deregulated since 1999, with only one since 1997. Figure courtesy of Gregory D. Graff. Sources: http://www.isb.vt.edu/cfdocs/fieldtests1.cfm; http://usbiotechreg.nbii.gov.

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