Powerful market forces are driving the applications of biotechnology in agriculture, including pre-farm gate and post-farm gate components of the value chain for agricultural products and world population growth. In addition, there is a growing demand in developing parts of the world for improved component quality of human foods, such as animal protein. These forces for increasing market volumes will put severe pressure on the efficiency of all agricultural production systems, including animal related products. Biotechnology is being used in the production of several commercial animal products, including chymosin for cheese production and bovine somatotropin for dairy cows. Somatotropins have also been approved in several countries for use in other species. There are many emerging applications for biotechnology in animals. Some of these are funded primarily by human medicine-driven applications, such as production of pharmaceuticals and organs for xenotransplantation by the use of transgenics and cloning of animals. These technologies will be further refined, and with the opportunity for large volume markets, will be available for economically viable commercial animal applications. The development of animal genomics, proteomics, informatics and related technologies will exponentially increase the opportunities for improving animal products. The timeline for these technologies to have an impact on the market place is open to debate, and in part, is dependent on the outcome of ongoing discussions of social, ethical, philosophical and economical issues. Many of the required discoveries have occurred and are available for development and commercialization.