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New report on GM crops show economic and environmental impacts

The financial and environmental impacts of biotech crops have been quantified in a lengthy report by PG Economics Ltd., an independent consulting firm in the UK, and it has some telling results!

June 19, 2009  By PG Economics Ltd. (UK)/University of Illinois


June 18, 2009

A 128-page report on the socio-economic and environmental impact of genetically-modified crops has been released, with results that date back to the technology's inception in the mid-1990s.

The report features an 11-page summary (Page 7-17), including tables and charts on biotech crops' value economically, their adoption in various countries and a cost-benefit comparison of the different types of genetically modified crops.

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Among the findings:

-the direct global farm income benefit from biotech crops in 2007 was $10.1 billion or the equivalent to adding 4.4 percent to the value of global production in the four main crops of sobyeans, maize, canola and cotton;
-farm incomes have increased by $44.1 billion since 1996;
-the largest gains in farm income have come in the soybean sector and largely from cost savings.

The full document is available here

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