AgBioForum, vol. 20, no. 2 (2017)
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By publishing timely novel, and insightful articles, AgBioForum enhances the ongoing dialogue on agbiotech management and economics. Leading the way to socially responsible and economically efficient decisions in science, public policy, and commercialization is the very purpose of AgBioForum.
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Item Willingness of south Florida fruit growers to adopt genetically modified papaya : an ex-ante evaluation(University of Missouri, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, 2017) Evans, Edward A.; Ballen, Fredy H.; De Oleo, Braulia; Crane, Jonathan H.Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) has been a major factor inhibiting the expansion of papaya production in South Florida. The University of Florida has developed transgenic papaya line X17-2, which is tolerant to PRSV, is suitable for commercial production, and has a potential yield improvement as high as 239%. In spite of the yield potential, some fruit growers may be skeptical about adopting this improved GM cultivar for a variety of reasons. Consequently, a probit model with data from a survey of likely producers was used to identify those factors that may influence the adoption of new GM papaya cultivars. Education level, farm size, and income derived from agriculture were among the factors likely to affect adoption of the technology. The findings suggest that a targeted education program will go far in increasing the rate of adoption of the technology.Item Which variables influence farmer adoption of genetically modified orphan crops? Measuring attitudes and intentions to adopt gm matooke banana in Uganda(University of Missouri, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, 2017) Schnurr, Matthew A.; Addison, LincolnWhich farmers are most likely to adopt genetically modified (GM) versions of African carbohydrate staples (also known as orphan crops)? This study investigates the variables that determine attitudes and intentions to adopt matooke banana in Uganda. Participatory ranking exercises undertaken with 167 randomly selected farmers and focus groups consisting of an additional 94 farmers suggest that attitudes and potential patterns of adoption will vary significantly according to region, farm size, membership in a farmer's association, previous experience with improved varieties and visits from extension workers. This research underscores the potential differentiated impacts of the commercialization of GM crops among African farmers.Item Biosafety regulatory systems overseeing the use of genetically modified organisms in the Latin America and Caribbean region(University of Missouri, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, 2017) Rosado, Andre; Craig, WendyThe development of a legal framework and the establishment of an administrative system are two fundamental elements when building a biosafety regulatory system. Further, the ability to process applications and make decisions concerning the various uses of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are good indicators of an operational biosafety regulatory system. This study provides an update of the progress made by Latin American and Caribbean countries in the establishment of their biosafety regulatory systems, and focuses especially on the regulation of four key types of GMO use (e.g., contained use, confined use, unconfined use, and importation of GMOs or their derived products for food, feed, or processing purposes). It demonstrates that nine countries have operational biosafety regulatory systems with experience in all four types. The majority of countries, however, have little experience regulating GMOs. In fact, our study highlights common capacity deficiencies of these countries, upon which future assistance can be targeted.Item Consumer willingness to pay for genetically modified vegetable oil and salmon in the United States and Norway(University of Missouri, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, 2017) Rickersten, Kyrre; Gustavsen, Geir W.; Nayga, Rodolfo M. Jr.Consumer resistance against GM crops is still substantial in the United States and Europe. We conducted an internet survey in the United States and Norway with more than 1,000 respondents in each country to estimate consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for GM soybean oil, farmed salmon fed with GM soy, and GM salmon. The differences in WTP for the conventional as compared with the GM alternatives are relatively small. Only between 7 and 13% of the respondents indicated that they were willing to pay more than a 20% premium for each of the conventional alternatives as compared to the corresponding GM alternatives. The average WTP premiums range from 7.5 to 9.2%. This suggests a large similarity in WTP in Norway and the United States and across the three products.Item Compliance costs for regulatory approval of c4 rice(University of Missouri, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, 2017) Bairagi, Subir; Mohanty, SamarenduSo far, most new biotech crops have been developed by transforming one or two genes with preferred traits. Compliance costs for regulatory approval of this type of crop vary among countries and according to whether the new biotech crop is a food or non-food crop. However, whether a new biotech crop with multiple transformed genes would cost significantly more and take much more time to be approved is unknown. This paper estimates the compliance costs for the regulatory approval of C4 rice, a new GM rice plant required several gene transformations, assuming it would be realized simultaneously in the 13 Asian countries in 2035. We found it to be $18.8 million (undiscounted), around 16.3% of the total research and development (R&D) costs. We also estimated the present value of R&D costs for C4 rice in 2017 prices to be approximately $106 million. These estimated R&D costs could be useful to quantity the net welfare benefits from the introduction of C4 rice. In addition, donors could use this result as a guideline to fund additional investment required to develop C4 rice.