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China is half a world away from the 2,300-acre family farm in east-central Iowa where John Weber and his son plant corn and soybeans. But 62-year-old Weber is among a number of Iowa farmers who are benefiting as rising incomes in China lead to demand for billions of dollars of American farm goods.

Farmers in developing nations will sow more biotech crops than those in the industrialized world for the first time this year, with Brazil leading the charge, according to a report issued on Tuesday that showed steady growth in the use of genetically modified seeds. Globally, the area planted with biotech crops rose 8 percent last year to a record 160 million hectares, or 395 million acres, slowing slightly from a 10 percent rise in 2010, said the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) in its annual report on biotech seed use.

The United States remained the primary backer of biotech crop technology in 2011, but adoption spread internationally as the total global planted area of genetically modified seeds grew 8 percent from a year ago, according to a report issued Tuesday. Roughly 160 million hectares, or 395.2 million acres, were planted with biotech crops in 2011, up 8 percent from 2010, said the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) in its annual report on biotech seed use.

Dan Pugh wishes he had a bigger tractor and his wife Laura worries about their chickens in the winter weather. But as new farmers putting down roots in rural Missouri, the Pughs are counting on more rewards than regrets in trading their city lives for the country. A better quality of food and life are among the factors that caused Dan, 47, to leave a career in sales last year and move Laura, 48, and their two young children to 50-acres (20 hectares) of rolling pastureland they call Honey Creek Farm.

German chemical company BASF BASF.DE is honing in on the Americas in the profitable biotech crop arena and giving up on the European market, where it has been frustrated by opposition to crops with genetically modified organisms, a top executive said on Friday. BASF, one of the world's largest chemical companies, said last week it was transferring the headquarters of BASF Plant Science from Limburgerhof in Germany, to Raleigh, North Carolina. Development and commercialization of all products targeted solely at cultivation in the European market will be halted, the company said.

Global agribusiness company Monsanto Co posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, driven primarily by expanding business in Brazil and Argentina and strong U.S. seed orders for spring planting. Monsanto also announced 14 areas of advancement in its research and development platforms, noting progress in corn, soy, cotton, wheat and canola.

Shares in global seed company Monsanto Co. were off more than 4 percent on Friday as concerns about the company's biotech corn products were noted in government reports. With the growing pest resistance seen in an older type of the company's biotech corn as the backdrop, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants Monsanto and corn seed partner Dow Chemical (DOW.N) to strengthen monitoring practices related to their newer SmartStax corn product, according to information contained in a U.S. Environmental government regulatory report dated Nov. 29.

Environmental and food safety groups filed suit on Wednesday against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, demanding it end the cultivation of genetically modified crops on Midwestern wildlife refuges. The groups claim the federal agency broke the law by entering agreements with farmers that allowed planting of biotech crops on refuge land in eight U.S. states without environmental reviews required by U.S. law.

Opponents of Monsanto's new genetically modified sweet corn are petitioning national food retailers and processors to ban the biotech corn, which is not labeled as being genetically altered from conventional corn. A coalition of health, food safety and environmental organizations said they have collected more than 264,000 petition signatures from consumers who do not want to buy the corn.

In China, dairy cows revolve on carousels in synchronized milking; in Kenya, small farmers are planting a new high-yielding sweet potato; and in laboratories in Iowa, scientists play with plant genetics to create corn that grows well even in drought. These projects, and scores more, are shaping a new century of agriculture. Whether it be cattle herders in sub-Saharan Africa or rice growers in rural Asia, farmers and ranchers need help to produce enough nutritious food to feed a population forecast by the United Nations to hit 7 billion on October 31.