Marketing Mechanisms to Facilitate Co-existence of Gm and Non-gm Crops

Development of specialty crops and GM products has had a great impact on the grain handling industry during past years. Added costs associated with handling these crops have become an issue of major importance for grain-handlers. For this study, data were collected from a survey of elevators in the Upper Midwest. The information gathered concerned their segregation practices, and the associated time and costs. This study shows the different costs (grading and handling) associated with segregation practices at the grain-handler level. The results obtained by using the empirical model based on the framework by Hurburgh et al. (1994) revealed that the cost of modifying systems to handle GM is of major importance. Assuming no modification is realized, the total cost of segregation is about 10 cents per bushel. The volume of grain tested also has an important impact on the total cost of segregation per bushel. As volumes handled and/or tested increase, the cost of segregation decreases. Finally, the gross elevator margin and the premium for quality seem to be large enough to offset the increase in handling costs due to these new segregation practices. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS