crop genetic Articles
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The economic impact of transgenic crops in developing countries: a note on the methods
A vast literature has accumulated since crop varieties with transgenic resistance to insects and herbicide tolerance were released to farmers in 1996 and 1997. A comparatively minor segment of this literature consists of studies conducted by agricultural economists to measure the farm-level impact of transgenic crop varieties, the size and distribution of the economic benefits from adopting them ...
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The socio–economic impacts of currently commercialised genetically engineered crops
A substantial and growing body of literature now exists on the socio–economic impacts of genetically engineered (GE) crops. While the bulk of literature has focused on the primary impacts of commercialised GE technology, in terms of changes in yields, costs and profitability, researchers have increasingly addressed a range of additional questions such as the distribution of impacts across groups, ...
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Are genetically modified (GM) crops a commercial risk for Africa?
What risks might Africa face if it decided to plant genetically modified (GM) agricultural crops? A rough calculation based on current export profiles for one sampling of eastern and southern African countries suggests that the commercial export risks incurred outside of Africa would be quite small. Most of Africa's exports of goods that might be considered GM currently go to other African ...
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Trading off risks and benefits when valuing new GM technologies: a consumer perspective
While Genetically Modified (GM) crops and foods are in production and on the shelves of supermarkets in many countries, they are still under much criticism and scrutiny around the world. Many studies report that consumers' perceptions towards biotechnology are mixed. The main contribution of this paper is to present a Contingent Valuation (CV) modelling approach that allows for the calculation of ...
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A differentiated account of the role of trust in consumers' acceptance of genetically modified foods in Germany
This paper proposes a sequential model to contrast the causal chain and associationist models on the role of trust in GM food acceptance. Data from 60 laddering interviews suggest the role of trust in evaluating the perceived consequences of GM food production and consumption is small and that the link between risk and trust is rather weak, too. Lending further support to the relevancy of the ...
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Impact of Bt cotton on farmer livelihoods in South Africa
The economic benefits of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in developing countries have been well documented, but little research has been undertaken to date on the impacts of GM adoption on household livelihoods. The research reported here aimed to assess the livelihood impacts of the adoption of Bt cotton in South Africa., and involved 100 interviews of resource-poor farmers growing Bt cotton in ...
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Determinants of consumers' willingness to accept GM foods
This paper investigates Willingness to Accept (WTA) Genetic Modification (GM) foods based on experimental auctions carried out in the USA, UK and France. It explores perceptions of risk and benefits, moral concerns and their antecedents, attitudes to the environment and technology and trust in various sources using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Trust in information provided by industry ...
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The impact of using GM insect resistant maize in Europe since 1998
Genetically Modified (GM) insect resistant (Bt) maize crops have been grown commercially in the European Union (EU) since 1998, and in 2006, there were plantings in seven EU member states. This paper reviews the specific economic impacts on yield and farm income as well as the environmental impact in respect of insecticide usage (where data exists). The analysis shows that there have been ...
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The economic impacts of second generation Bt cotton in West Africa: empirical evidence from Burkina Faso
West Africa has been slow in adopting agricultural biotechnology. The most progressive stance has been taken by Burkina Faso, which began field testing Bt cotton in 2003. This paper reports the first three years of Bt cotton field trials, which found that Bt cotton increased cotton yields by an average of 20% and reduced insecticide applications by two-thirds. While the technical success of Bt ...
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Genetically modified crops, factor endowments, biased technological change, wages and poverty reduction
Genetically Modified (GM), Herbicide Tolerant (HT) white maize, developed in the USA to save labour, is being grown by smallholders in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. This paper uses panel data for Africa, Asia and Latin America to investigate the effects of factor endowments and biased technological change on productivity growth, labour incomes and poverty reduction. Preliminary results show that ...
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An overview of preharvest factors influencing postharvest quality of horticultural products
Postharvest product quality develops during growing of the product and is maintained, not improved by postharvest technologies. Available genetic material allows discrimination of external and internal quality attributes that must satisfy consumer requirements and indulgences. Farmers face challenges in utilising technologies for producing high quality crops; meaningful manipulation of light, ...
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Risks of neonicotinoid insecticides to honeybees
The European honeybee, Apis mellifera, is an important pollinator of agricultural crops. Since 2006, when unexpectedly high colony losses were first reported, articles have proliferated in the popular press suggesting a range of possible causes and raising alarm over the general decline of bees. Suggested causes include pesticides, genetically modified crops, habitat fragmentation, and ...
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Can genetic engineering help quench crops’ thirst?
Researchers around the world are exploring how GMO technology might boost food production under hot, dry conditions. Roger Deal is trying to figure out how plants remember drought. An assistant professor of biochemistry and genetics at Emory University, Deal says most plants have a kind of memory for stress. When experiencing water shortage, for example, plants close the holes in their leaves, ...
By Ensia
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Locust Swarms Emphasise the Need for Controlled Environment Agriculture
Outbreaks of locust swarms in Africa, Asia and the Middle East have epitomised the essential need for indoor farming. Unseasonal rains caused by global warming, have aided the spread of desert locusts which would normally have died out in the dry season. Ethiopia and Somalia are currently experiencing their worst outbreak in twenty-five years, while Kenya is experiencing its worst infestation in ...
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Agrobiotechnology choices in developing countries
Today's agrobiotechnology revolution - especially the move toward transgenic or genetically modified (GM) crops - is being researched, commercialised, and (hotly) debated mostly in Europe, the USA, and elsewhere within the rich industrial world. Yet it is in the developing countries where the greatest human and environmental promise - or peril - of this new technology may lie. This paper argues ...
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Bt-cotton and secondary pests
Bt-cotton seed has been effective to control the damage of bollworm in Chinese cotton production since 1999, reducing the need for pesticides and increasing incomes of Chinese farmers. Field data collected in 2004 indicates that these benefits have been eroded by increasing the use of pesticides aimed to control secondary pests. The combination of Bt-cotton seed and other forms of biological pest ...
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Extreme Makeover: Photosynthesis Edition
Plants are far better than humans at turning sunlight into food. But they’re not nearly as good as they could be: Thanks to quirks in the systems that have evolved to capture solar energy and use it to build sugars from carbon dioxide and water, the conversion efficiency of photosynthesis is but a few percent at best. With the need to produce more crops growing even faster than human ...
By Ensia
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Indian government still ‘flip flopping’ on GM trials
In August, India’s ruling nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stopped its legislators from accepting Monsanto sponsorship to attend a farm exhibition in the US state of Iowa. On the surface this might seem strange: attending the Farm Progress Show should be innocuous, as Monsanto routinely takes farmers, industry experts, media and MPs from various countries to visit the show and ...
By SciDev.Net
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The Safety of Genetically Modified Foods Produced through Biotechnology
Executive Summary The Society of Toxicology (SOT) is committed to protecting and enhancing human, animal, and environmental health through the sound application of the fundamental principles of the science of toxicology. It is with this goal in mind that the SOT defines here its current consensus position on the safety of foods produced through biotechnology (genetic engineering). These products ...
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