EUWAB, Economics of Agricultural Biotechnology

In 1995 genetically engineered crops were introduced commercially. Most of this green biotechnology is developed and commercialised by a handful of vertically coordinated “life science” firms. Enforcement of intellectual property rights for biological innovations has been object of discussion for a long time. Due to their market power, these firms are able to extract a part of the total social welfare created. Ex post welfare studies reveal that farmers and input suppliers are receiving the largest part of the benefits. However, ex ante impact assessments were limited, certainly for the European Union. Hence, in May 1999 the Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven founded the EUWAB-project (European Union Welfare effects of Agricultural Biotechnology), assessing the economic impact of agricultural biotechnology innovations in the EU and their welfare distribution among Member States, producers, processors,consumers, input suppliers, governments and the environment.  Ever since the project has been adressing the isue surroundig green biotechnology in Europe and abroad. The research topic broadend including coexistence of different production systems, methodological issues of ex ante assessments, invasive species,...

News:
  • AgBioForum's special edition on herbicide resistant crops contains two papers by the EUWAB-team:
    ->Dillen, K., M. Demont & E. Tollens.2009. “Corporate Pricing Strategies with Heterogeneous Adopters: The Case of Herbicide Resistant Sugar Beet”, AgBioForum, 12(3&4): 344-345.
    ->Rodenburg, J., & Demont, M. 2009. "Potential of herbicide-resistant rice technologies for sub-Saharan Africa". AgBioForum, 12(3&4), 313-325.
  • The European Commission's DG Environment news service picks up the need for flexible coexistence measures and summarizes our paper in the News Alert  178 (December 2009). The article can be downloaded here.
  • Koen Dillen just returned from the University of Missouri (USA) and IFPRI, visiting Prof. Kalaitzandonakes, Prof. Klein and others.
  • Paper published in the International Sugar Journal 111 (1330): 638-643. Dillen, K., M. Demont & E. Tollens. 2009. “Potential Economic Impact of GM Sugar Beet in the Global Sugar Sector.” 
  • Both the articles in Ecological Economics (64(4):683-689) and in the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics (59(3):463-486) have been selected by the Belgian Association of Agricultural Economists (BAAE) for inclusion in the Commemorative Book highlighting the most valuable scientific achievements in the association.




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