The Coexistence of Genetically Modified, Organic and Conventional Foods: Government Policies and Market Practices

Kalaitzandonakes, N., Phillips, P.W.B., Wesseler, J., Smyth, S.J. (Eds.)

Publisher: Springer, New York.

Since their commercial introduction in 1996, genetically modified (GM) crops have been adopted by farmers around the world at impressive rates. In 2017, 180 million hectares of GM crops were cultivated by more than 15 million farmers in 30 countries. Global adoption is expected to grow even faster as the research pipeline for new biotech traits and crops has significantly expanded in recent years. The adoption of GM crops has led to increased productivity while reducing pesticide use and the emissions of agricultural greenhouse gases, leading to broadly distributed economic benefits across the global food supply chain.

Despite the rapid uptake of GM crops, the various social and economic benefits, as well as the expanding rate of innovation, the use of GM crops remains controversial in parts of the world. Coexistence between GM, organic, and conventional crops has also emerged as a key policy and practical issue of global scale. Governments and market stakeholders in many countries are grappling with policy alternatives that settle conflicting property rights, minimize negative market externalities and associated liabilities, maximize the economic benefits of innovation, and allow producer and consumer choice. The book intends to assist stakeholders and others in understanding these issues with contributions from the top theoreticians, legal and economic analysts, policy makers, and industry practitioners in the field. As the economics and policy of coexistence start to emerge as a separate subfield in agricultural, environmental, and natural resource economics with an increasing number of scholars working on the topic, the book also provides a comprehensive base in the literature for those entering the area, making it of interest to students, scholars, and policy makers alike.

Find the book here.

EMAC researchers Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes and Alexandre Magnier authored new article titled: A Profile of non-GM Crop Growers in the United States.”

In the US, the management of coexistence between GM and non-GM production systems has been left to market forces. GM crops that successfully complete required regulatory safety reviews are considered substantially equivalent to conventional varieties and can be freely commingled in the commodity supply chain. Non-GM products that are kept separate from their GM equivalents and organic crops are treated as value-added crops commanding premiums that vary according to prevailing supply and demand conditions. These premiums compensate farmers and traders for any incremental costs they incur, including those imposed by the segregation of non-GM from GM crops (through field isolation, buffer zones, etc.) and identity preservation (IP) throughout the supply chain. Hence, unlike the EU, in the US non-GM growers assume the costs of coexistence and, in turn, pass those costs on to purchasers of non-GM crops. There is an active non-GM crop production segment in the US that supplies both the domestic market and export destinations such as Japan, South Korea and the EU.  The article provides a profile of non-GM crop producers in the US.

Kalaitzandonakes, N. and A. Magnier “A Profile of non-GM Crop Growers in the United States” Eurochoices, 15(1): 64-68, 2016

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Genetically modified organisms have been around for over 20 years; The New York Times looks to the fields to see if the technology has lived up to its promises.

The controversy over genetically modified crops has long focused on largely unsubstantiated fears that they are unsafe to eat.

But an extensive examination by The New York Times indicates that the debate has missed a more basic problem — genetic modification in the United States and Canada has not accelerated increases in crop yields or led to an overall reduction in the use of chemical pesticides.

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