Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
of this specific crop in a region depending on the size of the isolation
distance. Because most agricultural production is not organized accord-
ing to a centralized plan (e.g., the case in seed production) this requires
additional time and activities as well as rising bureaucracy costs among
farmers within a region, the willingness and ability of farmers to cooper-
ate with each other, new rules and contractual forms to organize this type
of cooperation as well as modes for conflict solving. Furthermore, the
freedom of the single farmer to organize his farming business might be
reduced through this type of activity. This relates in particular to regions
with small-scaled farms and fields in which multiple farmers might have
to coordinate their activities.
Among other methodological approaches we have the possibility of
calculating the costs of buffer zones by assuming that the GM farmer
cultivates conventional maize or another crop with lower gross margins
on the isolated buffer zone area (Menrad and Reitmeier, 2006). In the
case of growing conventional maize varieties, additional costs of coexis-
tence measures are differences in the gross margins of Bt maize and con-
ventional maize varieties, in particular differences in seed prices, insec-
ticide treatment, yields and prices of the crop, extra machinery costs,
and efforts concerning cleaning machineries. To quantify the costs of the
suggested coexistence measure, it is necessary to make assumptions con-
cerning the economics of Bt maize because no empirical evidence exists
with respect to the economic performance of Bt maize in Germany due
to lack of commercial planting of this crop. According to the reported
experiences, it can be assumed that the yields of Bt maize might increase
in particular in regions with a high infestation level of the European Corn
Borer. Due to the resistance of Bt maize against this insect, insecticide
use is often reported to decrease when cultivating Bt maize. In contrast,
the seed costs of Bt maize will increase due to the technology fee that
farmers have to pay to the seed breeding companies. However, there is
no final conclusion possible concerning positive or negative changes in
gross margins of Bt maize in comparison to non-GM varieties (Menrad
and Reitmeier, 2006).
