By Sylvie Bonny ; INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research,
France)



The seed sector, particularly the GM seed sector, has been the subject of
multiple debates in many countries worldwide, but it remains actually rather
poorly known.

Food security, a scientific peer-reviewed Journal, has just published a new
paper analyzing this sector and particularly the GM seed industry.

The paper provides knowledge and food for thought on the seed sector, in
particular on genetically modified seeds: their economic weight, their size
in the agri-food chain, the functioning of the sector, the actors involved,
the level of concentration, the technology fees, the relative prices of GM
seeds and their evolution, some issues and perspectives in the GM seed
sector.



HIGHLIGHTS

- The paper sheds light on the present size, structure, actors, costs, and
prices of the seed sector.

- It provides recent data on the global conventional and GM seed sector,
with a particular focus on the latter.

- It presents the recent trends in the global seed industry, notably the
concentration trends.

- It explains why GM seeds have been and are adopted, even if they were and
are more expensive.



OVERVIEW

The seed sector has become a subject of attention, debate, and even
controversy with the development of genetically modified (GM) crops.
However, this sector is generally rather poorly known. A new paper aims to
take stock of the economy of GM seeds in order to better understand the
structure of this seed sector, its size, stakeholders, pricing, and major
trends. The global market of the various types of seeds (saved,
conventional, and transgenic) is first presented, as well as some aspects of
their development, such as in particular the significant consolidation in
the past few decades. Next, the economic characteristics of the transgenic
seed sector are analysed: actors, research and development expenditures, and
the value of technology fees. In the final section, the cost of transgenic
seeds is studied at the farm level, notably through the case of soybeans in
the United States. The rise in transgenic seed prices over time is analysed
as well as some repercussions of the growing trend toward the use of stacked
traits. The conclusion highlights some issues related to the use of
transgenic seeds from the point of view of seed and food security.



REFERENCE

Bonny S. 2014. Taking Stock of the Genetically Modified Seed Sector
Worldwide: Market, Stakeholders, and Prices. Food Security 4(6), August
2014, pp. 525-540.
DOI:10.1007/s12571-014-0357-1
[link.springer.com]



SOURCE

The paper [link.springer.com]
[link.springer.com]

The Journal Food Security:
[www.springer.com]
[www.springer.com]