Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Furthermore, there is an intensive discussion in the EU about how to
ensure freedom of choice between farmers in agricultural production. In
July 2003, the European Commission (DG Agriculture) released Com-
mission Recommendation 2003/556/EC on general coexistence guide-
lines and asked member-states to set up national strategies and best
practices to ensure the coexistence of GM crops with conventional and
organic farming. The national member-states of the EU are responsible
for setting rules for coexistence that are in line with Commission Recom-
mendation 2003/556/EC.
In recent years EU member-states have developed a variety of co-
existence rules and regulations that may influence the adoption of GM
crops in the different regions. Thus the institutional environment for
planting GM crops in Europe is heterogeneous (Beckmann et al., 2006).
Poland discusses a ban of planting GM crops while Bt maize is cul-
tivated in Spain since the mid-1990s (James, 2005). One hundred and
twenty communities in Belgium have declared themselves to be GMO-
free, whereas a regional grain trader and feed producer has announced
to pay the same price for Bt maize and conventional varieties (Beck-
mann et al., 2006). Farmers in Upper Austria have to apply authoriza-
tion for each field intended to be planted with GM crops and farmers in
Denmark have to pay a levy of 100 DK for each hectare of GM crops.
Taking all together this indicates that so far there is no clear regula-
tory framework in the EU concerning the concrete implementation and
handling of coexistence measures in the different EU member-states.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that general and GMO-
specific liability rules (if existing) differ significantly between member-
states.
Several studies analyzed the possibilities of coexistence schemes and
its economic effects in Europe (e.g., Bock et al., 2002; Tolstrup et al.,
2003; Mess ean et al., 2006) showing a wide set of measures to minimize
pollen flow to neighboring fields (Table 1). The recent studies also show
that potential costs of coexistence schemes occur on different levels (e.g.,
on a single farm, a region, the agricultural sector, or the agro-food chain
