| Biotech Timeline | |||
| Year | Event | ||
| 1 | -18000 | Middle Easterners domesticate and breed deer, antelope and sheep | |
| 3 | -5000 | Chinese domesticate and breed pigs | |
| 5 | -4000 | Egyptians master art of winemaking | |
| 7 | -3000 | South America peoples select and breed potatoes as staple crop | |
| 9 | -2000 | Egyptians and Sumerians learn brewing and cheese making | |
| 11 | -300 | Greeks develop grafting techniques for plant breeding | |
| 13 | 1276 | The first whiskey distillery was established in Ireland | |
| 15 | 1500 | Fermenting comes to the fore, leading to the development of sauerkraut and yogurt | |
| 17 | 1784 | The first brewery is established in Canada | |
| 19 | 1852 | In Paris, an international "Corn Show" features varieties from Syria, Portugal, Hungary and Algeria | |
| 21 | 1859 | Charles Darwin's book "Origin of the Species" is published | |
| 23 | 1861 | Louis Pasteur develops pasteurization, protecting food by heating it to kill dangerous microbes, removing the air and sealing it in a container | |
| 25 | 1865 | Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, presents his laws of heredity | |
| 27 | 1940 | Oswald Avery isolates pure DNA | |
| 29 | 1941 | Danish microbiologist A. Justin coins term "genetic engineering" | |
| 31 | 1953 | James Watson and Francis Crick describe double helix structure of DNA (receive Nobel Prize in 1962) | |
| 33 | 1970 | Norman Borlaug becomes first plant breeder to win Nobel Prize for his work on Green Revolution wheat varieties | |
| 35 | 1973 | Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer discover recombinant DNA technology, considered to be the birth of modern biotechnology | |
| 37 | 1981 | Chinese scientists become first to clone a fish a golden carp | |
| 39 | 1981 | Canada's first biotechnology company, Allelix, is formed | |
| 41 | 1982 | The first genetically engineered product, human insulin, is approved for sale in US | |
| 43 | 1983 | Canadian Biotechnology Strategy is established by Canadian government | |
| 45 | 1987 | Hepatitis B vaccine approved for use in Canada | |
| 47 | 1988 | World's first field tests for genetically engineered canola take place in Canada | |
| 49 | 1989 | Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska is cleaned up with the help of bacteria | |
| 51 | 1990 | The first food products modified by biotechnology, an enzyme for cheese production and a yeast for baking, are approved in US and UK respectively | |
| 53 | 1992 | Canadian Human Genome Project announced by federal government | |
| 55 | 1993 | The first animal hormone produced with biotechnology, Bovine somatotropin, is approved for use in US | |
| 57 | 1993 | Canadian Michael Smith wins the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his pioneering work on a method of reprogramming segments of DNA | |
| 59 | 1994 | Canada boasts 121 companies involved in biotechnology | |
| 61 | 1995 | Three human biopharmaceutical products receive approval for AIDS and cancer | |
| 63 | 1996 | Commercial production of biotechnology crops begin corn, potato and canola | |
| 65 | 1997 | Birth of Dolly the sheep announced as the first successful mammal cloned from an adult cell | |