The costs of coexistence measures for genetically modified maize in Germany

We estimate the perceived costs of legal requirements (“coexistence measures”) for growing genetically modified Bt maize in Germany with the help of a choice experiment. The costs of the evaluated ex-ante and ex-post coexistence measures range from zero to more than €300 per measure and most of them are greater than the extra revenue the farmers in our survey expect from growing Bt maize or than what is found in the literature. The cost estimates for temporal separation, the highest in our evaluation, imply that the exclusion of this measure in Germany is justified. The costliest measures of the ones that are applicable in Germany are joint and strict liability for all damages. Our results further show that neighbours do not cause a problem and opportunities for reducing costs through agreements with them exist. Finally, we find that farmers’ attitudes towards genetically modified crops affect the probability of adoption of Bt maize. Our results imply that strict liability will deter the cultivation of Bt maize in Germany unless liability issues can be addressed through other means, for example, through neighbours agreements.

VENUS Thomas;  DILLEN Koen;  PUNT Maarten;  WESSELER Justus; 

2019-02-20

WILEY-BLACKWELL

JRC101757

0021-857X (online),   

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1477-9552.12178,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC101757,   

10.1111/1477-9552.12178 (online),