ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: The Development of GMO-free Zones in Germany: An Econometric Analysis
Author: Consmüller Nicola, Beckmann Volker, Petrik Martin
Since the European Commission lifted the quasi-moratorium on GMOs in the European Union in 2004, the establishment of GMO-free zones can be observed in many European countries. GMO-free zones consist of a number of neighbouring farmers declaring by contract that they will restrain from any kind of GMO in the near future. The fist GMO-free zone in Germany was established in November 2003 in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In July 2009, already 107 GMO-free zones associating 22,805 farmers and 786,816 ha of UAA were registered with the German network of GMO-free regions (Gentechnikfreie Regionen 2009). In this paper we analyse theoretically and empirically the development of GMO-free zones in Germany. We start from the models developed by Beckmann et al. (2006), Beckmann and Wesseler (2007) and Beckmann and Schleyer (2007) which provide the economic rational for regional clustering of different farms to reduce expected coexistence costs. Base on the model we discuss different structural variables such as farm size, share or organic farming, share of nature protected areas, potential and actual adoption of GM crops and the strength of the anti-GMO movement on the incentives to establish GMO-free zones. Empirically we test the influence of different structural variables based on a panel data set at the federal states level for the years 2004 to 2008. The results indicate that the development of the GMO-free zones in Germany is mainly driven by the strength of the anti-GMO movement, the significance of organic farming within the region and the extent of Bt-maize cultivation in the previous year.
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