Study Shows Farm Income and Production Impacts of GM Crop Technology from 1996 to 2016

GM crops commercialization has occurred at a rapid rate since the mid 1990s, with important changes in both the overall level of adoption and impact in 2016. This is according to the research paper on farm income and production impacts of using GM crop technology in 1996–2016 authored by PG Economics' Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot. The annual updated analysis estimates the value of using GM technology in agriculture at the farm level, including impacts on yields, key variable costs of production, direct farm (gross) income, and impacts on the production base of the four main crops of soybeans, corn, cotton, and canola.

The paper highlights that there continues to be very significant net economic benefits at the farm level amounting to $18.2 billion in 2016 and $186.1 billion from 1996 to 2016. Majority of the gains (52%) have been received by farmers in the developing countries. Around 65% of the gains were derived from yield and production gains, while the remaining 35% come from cost savings. It was also mentioned that the technology has also made important contributions to increasing global production levels of the four main crops. The technology added 213 million tons of soybeans and 405 million tons of maize to the global production since the introduction of the technology in 1996.

Read the paper published in GM Crops and Food.