State of Science :: Environment
"The Magnitude and Impacts of the Biotech and Organic Seed Price Premiums"
December 2009
Author(s): Charles Benbrook, PhD
Chief Scientist
The Organic Center
In recent years the price of genetically engineered corn, soybean, and cotton seed has risen sharply. Seed expenditures per acre are now cutting into net farm income, and transferring earnings that used to stay on the farm to the seed industry.
The magnitude of the biotech and organic seed price premiums are contrasted, and impacts on gross and net farm income are estimated. Surprisingly, the biotech seed price premium is much larger than the organic seed price premium, despite the major differences in the value embedded in each.
"The Magnitude and Impacts of the Biotech and Organic Seed Price Premiums" (pdf 841 kb, 17 pages)
"The Seed Premium-Farm Income Database"
