Biotech Updates

Global Welfare Effects of GM Sugar Beet

July 31, 2009

The global sugar sector can benefit from genetically modified (GM) sugar beet with significant gains accruing to farmers and consumers, and to a lesser extent, the gene developers and seed suppliers. However, since only the U.S. currently accepts the technology the rest of the global community is unable to benefit from the biotech crop. Koen Dillen and Eric Tollens of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in an article Global Welfare Effects of GM Sugar Beet under Changing EU Sugar Policies published in AgbioForum provide theoretical possibilities if GM sugar beet is allowed for commercialization in the EU.

Dillen and Tollens estimate that the theoretical global value of HT sugar beet for the period 1996-2014 is at €15.4 billion, of which 29% is captured by EU farmers, 31% by farmers and consumers in the rest of the world, and 39% by the seed sector.

Download the full article at http://www.agbioforum.org/v12n1/v12n1a11-dillen.htm