ENGA, in cooperation with US-based Non-GMO Project and semnar, today publishes its latest report on New GMOs, analysing global market developments and regulatory trends. The report identifies a growing disconnect between expectations, sustainability claims, and real-world deployment.
Despite increasing political and industry attention, often driven by the promise of climate and environmental benefits, just four New GMO crops are currently cultivated worldwide (only one more than in 2025). At the same time, 108 crops are in development, often cleared for market access but not cultivated.
The anticipated sustainability benefits of New GMO plants have yet to materialise in practice. To date, no New GMO currently on the market contributes to sustainability objectives, while only a limited number of products in development target climate-related traits such as drought or heat tolerance.
“There is a clear disconnect between promises and reality,” said Heike Moldenhauer, ENGA Secretary General. “After years of development, market uptake is virtually non-existent and sustainability benefits haven’t yet materialised. Whilst at the same time, New GMOs are being rapidly deregulated.
“Our findings point to another year of virtually no commercial success for New GMO products and a failure to substantiate the claims that these technologies will deliver a more sustainable food system. Instead, a number of developments focus on traits such as ‘non-browning’ or extended shelf life, which risk misleading consumers by enhancing the appearance of freshness whilst not addressing sustainability challenges.”
A pipeline without commercial performance
The imbalance between regulatory approvals and actual cultivation, particularly in the United States, indicates that regulatory clearance alone does not lead to cultivation or commercial success. In parallel, some of the earliest New GMO products have already been withdrawn from the market, underlining the poor commercial performance of these technologies to date.
Questionnable traits
At the same time, the traits under development raise questions about the broader policy narrative: despite the broad sustainability claims made for New GMOs only a small number address climate resilience: only six of the crops “in development” could contribute to countering the climate crisis – although it is unclear whether these plants will ever be cultivated.
Other plants focus on herbicide resistance or product characteristics such as shelf life, with seven plants “non-browning” or intended to have a longer shelf life, giving the impression of freshness that they do not possess. A further seven plants are herbicide-resistant, the dominant trait in plants produced using old genetic engineering techniques.
“What we are seeing globally is a rapid push toward deregulation without corresponding evidence of meaningful public benefit,” said Hans Eisenbeis of the Non-GMO Project. “Despite years of investment and increasingly permissive regulations, many of the promised outcomes have yet to materialize in real-world food systems. Consumers, farmers, and food producers all benefit from systems that preserve traceability, accountability, and informed choice."
Deregulation advancing globally
While market uptake remains limited, regulatory change is advancing rapidly across major agricultural economies. A growing number of countries, including the United States, UK, Brazil, Argentina and Australia, have adopted frameworks under which New GMOs without foreign DNA are not treated as GMOs or have been deregulated.
In practice, this results in the removal of requirements for risk assessment, traceability and labelling, significantly reducing regulatory oversight compared to traditional GMO frameworks.
Interestingly, whilst China is rapidly expanding its cultivation of old GMOs and has the world's largest publicly funded agricultural biotechnology program, it also requires traceability and labelling for all registered GMOs, old or new, for all domestic food.
A growing global resistance
The last year has seen a significant resistance to these deregulatory trends. Across multiple regions, farmers, consumer organisations and civil society groups are raising concerns about the removal of transparency requirements, the implications for seed sovereignty, and the potential for increased concentration in the seed sector.
Recent legal and political developments — including court decisions and policy interventions in countries such as Mexico and Kenya — demonstrate that the deregulation approaches are being challenged. In several cases, opposition is rooted in broader concerns about the rights of farmers and Indigenous communities, as well as the long-term governance of food systems.
This new report is published ahead of a major gathering of the European Non-GMO Industry, which is meeting at the Non-GMO Summit on 13 May in Frankfurt, where the report’s findings will be presented. Participants will be discussing how to deal with New GMOs in Non-GMO food and feed chains.
Read the full report.
About the report
The report’s editors are: Hans Eisenbeis, The Non-GMO Project (USA), Eva Gelinsky, Researcher (CH) and Heike Moldenhauer, ENGA (BE).
This report is the second edition of this annual report, which is tailored to food business operators who want a quick overview of which New GMOs they may need to deal with today and in the near future. The editors of this report bring together their international expertise to offer the food industry a vital synopsis of New GMOs.
The report focusses on New GMOs (and not ‘old genetic engineering’ or old GMOs: transgenic GMOs), also commonly referred to as ‘New Genomic Techniques’ used by EU institutions or ‘gene editing’, which is commonly used in North America to describe GMOs into which no ‘foreign’ DNA has been incorporated.
About ENGA
The European Non-GMO Industry Association (ENGA) is the voice of the Non-GMO food and feed sector at the EU level. ENGA, founded in 2020, secures and supports the expansion of Non-GMO production and advocates for the strict regulation of old and New GMOs in order to keep untested and unlabelled GMOs from entering the EU food and feed chains.
About The Non-GMO Project
The Non-GMO Project is a nonprofit organization based in the US. Since 2007, the Non-GMO Project Verified seal has remained the most trusted third-party verification for GMO avoidance in the US and Canada. Through its Food Integrity Collective, Non-UPF Verified program, and Non-GMO Project Verified mark, the organization promotes transparency and health in food systems. Learn more at foodintegritycollective.org, nonultraprocessed.org, and nongmoproject.org.