GM Crops : The Global Economic and Environmental Impact — The First Nine Years 1996 – 2004

This study presents the findings of research into the global economic and environmental impact of genetically modified (GM) crops since their commercial introduction in 1996. Several studies have investigated the economic and environmental perspectives of GM crops, but these have usually been limited by trait, country, and/or year. This study therefore aims to quantify these impacts cumulatively for the period 1996–2004 through a combination of collating and extrapolating economic analysis findings from past studies and undertaking new environmental impact analysis. This global cumulative analysis over a nine-year period will better identify consistent trends in the technology impact over time as well as identify salient differences in impact between crops, traits, and countries. The economic impact analysis concentrates on farm income effects, because this is a primary driver of adoption amongst farmers and is an area for which much analysis has been undertaken. The environmental impact analysis focuses on changes in the use of insecticides and herbicides with GM crops and the resulting impact on the environmental load from crop production. Previous investigations have been limited to an examination of changes in pesticide volumes with GM crops, whereas this study expands the analysis and includes a more robust assessment of the specific pesticide products used in different production systems and their environmental load impact. Lastly, we investigate for the first time the contribution of GM crops towards reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because of the importance of this issue to the global environment.