Addressing the Externalities from Genetically Modified Pollen Drift on a Heterogeneous Landscape

Abstract

Genetically modified (GM) crops have single or multiple genes introduced to obtain crop characteristics that cannot be obtained through conventional breeding. Pollen mediated gene flow from GM to non-GM crops causes some crops planted as non-GM to become GM, and this imposes economic losses on farmers who planted a non-GM crop but then have to sell the harvest on a GM market. The economic losses that result when both crops are grown together depend on the institutional arrangements and the type of property rights in place. We analyze how the spatial heterogeneity of a farmer's fields affects the land allocation between buffers, the GM, and the non-GM crop based on cross-pollination and initial assignment of property rights. Greater spatial heterogeneity reduces the possibility of coexistence of crops on the landscape and increases the economic losses. Buffer zones enforced to reduce cross-pollination result in less coexistence on heterogeneous landscapes.

With great power comes great responsibility: why ‘safe enough’ is not good enough in debates on new gene technologies

“…Related concerns include: the preservation of local crop varieties and genetic diversity; access to technology and technological advice; the right to select, propagate, store, exchange, and sell seeds; the right to refrain from using gene edited varieties and to maintain traditional forms of production; the right to be protected from adverse environmental effects like pesticide resistant weeds and novel toxins; and the right to be heard in assessments of novel GMOs (Fischer et al 2015;Helliwell et al 2017;Development Fund 2020;Lima et al 2020). Coexistence between the farming of GM, traditional, and organic crops may be fraught with difficulties, and studies have shown the economic benefits to GM crop producers to be followed by economic as well as social costs to adjacent traditional and organic producers (Binimelis 2008;Bertheau 2013;Mancini et al 2016).…”