Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Despite the higher prices of GE seeds compared to conventional seed, farmers
realize economic benefits from growing GE crops through higher crop yields,
and/or lower pesticide costs, and management time savings.
Farmers will continue to use GE seeds as long as these seeds benefit them.
However, it is not clear that first-generation GE seeds will benefit farmers
indefinitely. With the help of refuges, the emergence of insect resistance to Bt
crops has been low and of little economic significance over the first 15 years,
but there are some indications that insect resistance is developing to some Bt
traits in some areas and resistance to the herbicide glyphosate has already
evolved in certain weed populations. Best management practices can help
delay the evolution of resistance and sustain the efficacy of HT crops.
An important issue beyond the scope of this report is the coexistence of
crop production systems. According to the USDA Advisory Committee on
Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture— AC21 (2012), coexistence is
defined as the “concurrent cultivation of crops produced through diverse
agricultural systems including traditionally produced, organic, identity
preserved, and genetically engineered crops.” USDA supports all these crop
production systems and wants each to be “as successful as possible providing
products to markets in the United States and abroad.”
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ERS is collecting data
and conducting a study on several aspects of the economics of coexistence of
organic, non-GE, and GE crops.
R
EFERENCES
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. (1996).
Exporting Processed Foods
Containing GM Ingredients to Europe; Final Report Prepared for the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture
, Food & Rural Affairs, May 16.
Anand, A., Mittelhammer, R., McCluskey, J. J. & Jill, J. (2007). “Consumer
Response to Information and Second-Generation Genetically Modified
Food in India”
Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization
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(1). http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jafio.2007.5.1/jafio.2007.5.1.1138/
jafio.2007.5.1.1138.xml?format=INT
Andow, D., Hilbeck, A. & Van Tuat, N. (2008). “Challenges and
Opportunities with Bt Cotton in Vietnam,”
Environmental Risk
Assessment of Genetically Modified Organisms
. Volume
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, Chapter 13.
Arnold, J. C., Shaw, D. R. & Medlin, C. R. (1998). “Roundup Ready TM
Programs Versus Conventional Programs: Efficacy, Varietal Performance,
