Success stories
GMCC-07: Third International Conference on Coexistence between GM and non-GM based Agricultural Supply Chains
Economic Impact of Dominant GM Crops Worldwide: A Review. View the report
New case studies on the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops in European agriculture. View the report
Adoption and performance of the first GM crop introduced in EU agriculture: Bt maize in Spain. View the report
Objective
In order to maintain, further improve or develop their competitive advantage, the European agriculture and food sectors are highly dependent on the successful introduction and deployment of new technologies, techniques and practices at farm level. Such new approaches and applications, while potentially beneficial, may also raise new challenges.
The objective of the New Technologies in Agriculture - their agronomic and socio-economic impact (AGRITECH) action is to provide anticipatory science-based support to the European Commission policy making process through assessing the agronomic, socio-economic and policy / regulatory implications derived from the introduction of new technologies, in particular biotechnology, in the agro-food sector.
AGRITECH also operates the European Coexistence Bureau (ECoB) responsible for the definition of commonly agreed, EU-wide technical segregation measures between GM, conventional and organic agriculture to assist Member States in the development or refinement of their approaches to coexistence.
Activities
The European Co-existence Bureau (ECoB): technical co-operation and consensus building in co-existence
Based on the IPTS'long standing expertise in the area of GMOs and coexistence, AGRITECH provides a coexistence research framework for the implementation and operation of the European Coexistence Bureau (ECoB), established by the European Commission based on the mandate provided by the Agriculture Council Conclusions of 22 May 2006.
ECoB works through designated crop-specific Technical Working Groups (TWGs) comprised of technical representatives of Member States towards elaboration of Best Practice Documents. The reference documents aim at ensuring co-existence between genetically modified, conventional and organic crop production. ECoB provides a forum for technical co-operation and consensus building between Member States with respect to defining technical segregation measures between GM, conventional and organic agriculture. The aim is to assist Member States (ultimate end users) in the development or refinement of their approaches to co-existence, on a crop specific basis. The reference documents are being developed on a crop-by-crop basis.
The first TWG took up work in 2008 on coexistence measures for maize crop production.
The ECoB is located at the premises of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Seville. More on ECoB
Socio-economic implications of GM crops: coexistence, feasibility and grower acceptability in the EU
Under this heading, AGRITECH is producing quantitative estimates of the potential adoption of new GM crops by EU farmers, its impact on farmers'gross margin and the impact of Member State coexistence measures on GM crop adoption.
In addition, AGRITECH is developing a reasoned pipeline of new GM crops to be marketed in main trading partners in the next 5 years and evaluating the possible restrictions in the access to commodity markets (asynchronous approval).
Socio-economic implications of other agricultural biotechnologies in the agro-food sector
In the light of the EU policy developments regulating the use of animal cloning technology, AGRITECH is studying the current flow of imports of animal reproduction materials, live animals and meat from third countries where animal cloning has been legalised, and evaluating scenarios of market access restrictions.
AGRITECH is also reviewing the developments and use of genetically modified animals in agriculture and food production.
And finally, we are analysing the impact of agriculture biotechnologies on the related economic sectors including the biotechnology ownership patterns.
