Adoption and performance of the first GM crop introduced in EU agriculture: Bt maize in Spain

This report analyses the process of adoption by farmers of the only GM crop cultivated in Europe. Bt maize is a transgeniccrop resistant to an important group of pests (the maize borers). The study also provides the first large-scale empiricalevidence on the agronomic and economic performance of this crop in the EU. The research was carried out in Spain, theEU member state with highest adoption rate of Bt maize in agriculture (reaching 60% in some regions) since it was firstintroduced in 1998. The report used data from a survey carried out among 402 commercial maize farms, including bothadopters and non adopters of Bt maize during three growing seasons (2002-2004). Farmers were based in three Spanishprovinces (Zaragoza, Lleida and Albacete) situated in leading Bt maize growing areas of Spain. All farmers were producingmaize for feed manufacturing. The survey found that Bt maize, like other pest-control technologies, produced variable impacts on maize yields in differentprovinces, ranging from neutral to 11.8% yield increase. The regional variability depends mainly on local variations of pestpressure and damage. Yield gains for growers of Bt maize were translated into revenue increase since no differences werefound in the price paid to farmers for Bt or conventional maize. Regarding production costs, Bt maize growers paid morefor the seeds than conventional growers, but had reduced insecticide use and costs. On average, growers of conventionalmaize applied 0.86 insecticide treatments/year to control borers versus 0.32 treatments/year applied by Bt maize growers.All things considered, the impact of Bt maize adoption on gross margin obtained by farmers in different provinces rangedfrom neutral to ¤ 122/ha and year. In the survey, the reason most quoted by farmers for adopting Bt maize was "loweringthe risk of maize borer damage" followed by "obtaining higher yields". Finally, the report compared the socio-economic profiles of farmers adopting or not Bt maize varieties. No differenceswere found for the two groups of farmers for variables such as land ownership, farm size, experience as maize grower,education or training. The report concludes that the differences in yields and gross margin are therefore attributable tothe adoption of Bt maize varieties. The mission of the JRC is to provide customer-driven scientific and technical support for the conception,development, implementation and monitoring of EU policies. As a service of the European Commission, theJRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the Union. Close to the policy-makingprocess, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests,whether private or national.LF-NA-2778-EN-C