Roundup Ready soybeans in Argentina: farm level and aggregate welfare effects
Open accessAbstract
Although adoption rates of genetically modified crops have been staggering in some countries, there is still comparatively little evidence about biotechnology impacts under diverse agroecological and institutional conditions. These knowledge gaps lead to an overly precautious attitude among policy makers and the public. This article analyzes the effects of Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans in Argentina, the country with the second biggest transgenic area worldwide. Based on recent survey data, it is shown that the technology increases total factor productivity by 10% on average, with cost savings being somewhat more pronounced for smaller than for larger farms. The reduction in use of toxic herbicides and of tillage operations entails positive environmental repercussions. Aggregate welfare effects are computed over the 1996–2001 period with a three‐region, partial equilibrium model, comprising Argentina, the United States, and the rest of the world. In 2001, RR soybeans created more than US$1.2 billion of economic surplus at the global level. The largest share went to consumers (53%), followed by seed and biotechnology firms (34%), and agricultural producers (13%). Due to comparatively weak intellectual property protection, and thus only small technology mark‐ups in seed prices and widespread adoption, Argentine soybean growers receive 90% of the benefits in that country. This demonstrates that farmers in developing countries can gain considerably when they obtain access to suitable foreign innovations through technology spill‐overs.
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HT crops have reduced herbicide quantity in some situations but have contributed to increases in the use of broad-spectrum herbicides elsewhere.
“While HT crops have reduced herbicide quantity in some situations, they have contributed to increases in the use of broad-spectrum herbicides elsewhere [2], [11], [19].”
From A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops (2014) · cites this paper as [11]
Section 3.3, Table 4 reports that herbicide use per hectare more than doubled for Roundup Ready soybeans in Argentina; the Introduction identifies glyphosate as a broad-spectrum herbicide. The same section says US herbicide amounts were more or less unaffected, rather than reduced, so this source does not support the sentence’s claim that herbicide quantity fell in some situations. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
A Meta-Analysis of the Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops
Klümper, W., & Qaim, M. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111629 · Cited by 869 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Qaim, M., & Traxler, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Hohenheim (DE)
- Auburn University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Qaim, Matin
- Venue
- Agricultural Economics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2005-01
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 73-86
- ISSN
- 0169-5150 (ISSN-L)
- 1574-0862
- OpenAlex
- W2145287050
- Cited by
- 291
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 23.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Agricultural Economics (publishedVersion)
- GRO (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Genetically Modified Organisms Research
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agricultural Innovations and Practices
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Agricultural economics and policies
- Keywords
- Roundup Ready soybean, genetically modified crops, Argentina, total factor productivity, farm size, herbicide application, reduced tillage, environmental effects, economic surplus, intellectual property protection, technology diffusion, technology spillovers, partial equilibrium model, seed prices, technology adoption
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