Measuring the economic impacts of transgenic crops in developing agriculture during the first decade
Biotechnology in agriculture has generated a great deal of controversy in recent years. Of the many scientific advances that have occurred in plant breeding since Gregor Mendel conducted his experiments about 150 years ago, crops with genetic modifications seem to have been accorded a unique status. The use of crops that are modified by the transfer of genes across species has provoked concerns that continue to be echoed in the media and the academic press and have reached into the fields and lives of farmers in both rich and poor countries. This food policy review summarizes that portion of the applied economics literature that deals with the impact of transgenic crops in nonindustrialized agriculture during the first decade of their adoption, with an emphasis on methods.