Table 2.
GM HT maize: summary of average gross farm income impacts 1996–2018 ($/hectare).
| Country | Cost of technology | Average gross farm income benefit (after deduction of cost of technology) | Aggregate income benefit (million $) | Type of benefit | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | 15–30 | 30.1 | 10,798.1 | Cost savings | Carpenter and Gianessi14 Sankala and Blumenthal15,16 Johnson and Strom17 Also updated annually to reflect herbicide price and common product usage |
| Canada | 17–35 | 13.7 | 210.2 | Cost savings | Monsanto Canada (personal communications) and updated annually since 2008 to reflect changes in herbicide prices and usage |
| Argentina | 13–33 | 106.1 | 3,437.8 | Cost savings plus yield gains over 10% and higher in some regions | Personal communication from Monsanto Argentina, Grupo CEO and updated since 2008 to reflect changes in herbicide prices and usage |
| South Africa | 9–18 | 7 | 90.3 | Cost savings | Personal communication from Monsanto South Africa and updated since 2008 to reflect changes in herbicide prices and usage |
| Brazil | 10–32 | 29 | 2,238.5 | Cost savings plus yield gains of +1% to +7% | Galveo9-12 |
| Colombia | 14–24 | 15.7 | 9.5 | Cost savings | Mendez et al22 |
| Philippines | 24–47 | 29.7 | 198.4 | Cost savings plus yield gains of +5% to +15% | Gonsales23 Monsanto Philippines (personal communications) Updated since 2010 to reflect changes in herbicide prices and usage |
| Paraguay | 13–17 | 2.9 | 6.3 | Cost saving | Personal communication from Monsanto Paraguay and AMIS Global/Kleffman – annually updated to reflect changes in herbicide prices and usage |
| Uruguay | 6–17 | 2.8 | 1.81 | Cost saving | Personal communication from Monsanto Uruguay and AMIS Global/Kleffman – updated annually to reflect changes in herbicide prices and usage |
| Vietnam | 25–28 | 38.2 | 5.1 | Brookes24 |
1. The range in values for cost of technology relates to annual changes in the average cost paid by farmers. It varies for reasons such as the price of the technology set by seed companies, exchange rates, average seed rates, and values identified in different studies
2. For additional details of how impacts have been estimated, see examples in Appendix 1
3. AMIS Global/Kleffmann are subscription-based data sources (derived from farmer surveys) on pesticide use
4. References to Monsanto Argentina, Canada, South Africa, Philippines, Paraguay, and Uruguay as sources of data – this is unpublished data provided to the authors by these companies on a yearly basis covering seed premium and typical herbicide treatments used on GM HT and conventional crops
5. Reference to changes in herbicide prices and usage – author estimates drawing on AMIS Global/Kleffmann data and other similar database sources e.g., Kynetec (for the US) and extension services (e.g., Ontario Ministry of Agriculture in Canada)