The Coexistence of Genetically Modified, Organic and Conventional Foods

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. Introduction to the Issue of Coexistence

   • Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, Peter W.B. Phillips, Stuart J. Smyth, Justus Wesseler

   Pages 1-11

3. The Science of Gene Flow in Agriculture and Its Role in Coexistence

   • Allen Van Deynze, Kent J. Bradford, Henry Daniell, Joseph M. DiTomaso, Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, Carol Mallory-Smith et al.

   Pages 13-37

4. Developing Market Driven Standards for Coexistence: Tolerances, Thresholds, and Other Technical Standards Used by the Seed Industry

   • Michael Gumina

   Pages 39-46

5. Economic and Legal Principles of Coexistence Policy in North America

   • Randal Giroux

   Pages 47-54

6. Organic Label Rules and Market Tensions: The Challenge of Satisfying Buyers

   • Lynn Clarkson

   Pages 55-61

7. Developing Solutions for Coexistence in the EU—Legal, Technical, and Economic Issues

   • Koen Dillen, Ivilin Rizov, Emilio Rodriguez-Cerezo

   Pages 63-70

8. The Principle(s) of Co-existence in the Market for GMOs in Europe: Social, Economic and Legal Avenues

   • Kai Purnhagen, Justus Wesseler

   Pages 71-85

9. Coexistence in Brazil

   • Marcus Vinícius Segurado Coelho

   Pages 87-94

10. What Can We Learn About Coexistence from Commercial Non-GM Programs in the US?

    • Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, Alexandre Magnier

    Pages 95-102

11. Lessons from the Legal Cases of GM Alfalfa and Sugar Beet Deregulation in the United States

    • Nancy Bryson

    Pages 103-112

12. Organic Versus GM Agriculture in the Courtroom in Australia and the USA

    • Michael Blakeney

    Pages 113-135

13. Coexistence—Under-Explored Facets for a USDA Policy

    • Drew L. Kershen

    Pages 137-147

14. The “Honey” Judgment of Bablok and Others Versus Freistaat Bayern in the Court of Justice of the European Union: Implications for Co-existence

    • Kai Purnhagen, Justus Wesseler

    Pages 149-165

15. The Canadian and European Union Impacts from the Detection of GM Flax

    • Teresa Babuscio, William Hill, Camille D. Ryan, Stuart J. Smyth

    Pages 167-176

16. Consequences of Adventitious Presence of Non-approved GMOS in Seeds: The Case of Maize Seeds in Germany

    • Philipp Wree, Justus Wesseler

    Pages 177-183

17. Commercialization Strategies and Market Opportunities for GM Canola

    • Stuart J. Smyth, Peter W. B. Phillips

    Pages 185-195

18. Regulatory Lags for Genetically Modified Crops: Legal and Political Perspectives

    • Martin Phillipson, Stuart J. Smyth

    Pages 197-206

19. Regulatory Approval Asynchrony, LLP, and Implications for Biotech R&D and Innovation

    • Eric Sachs

    Pages 207-219

20. The Economic Impacts of Regulatory Delays: The Case of HT Soybeans

    • Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, Kenneth Zahringer, John Kruse

    Pages 221-239

Since their commercial introduction in 1996, genetically modified (GM) crops have been adopted by farmers around the world at impressive rates. In 2011, 180 million hectares of GM crops were cultivated by more than 15 million farmers in 29 countries. In the next decade, global adoption is expected to grow even faster as the research pipeline for new biotech traits and crops has increased almost fourfold in the last few years. The adoption of GM crops has led to increased productivity, while reducing pesticide use and the emissions of agricultural greenhouse gases, leading to broadly distributed economic benefits across the global food supply chain. Despite the rapid uptake of GM crops, the various social and economic benefits as well as the expanding rate innovation, the use of GM crops remains controversial in parts of the world. Despite the emergence of coexistence between GM, organic and conventional crops as a key policy and practical issue of global scale, there isno coherent literature that addresses it directly. Governments and market stakeholders in many countries are grappling with policy alternatives that settle conflicting property rights, minimize negative market externalities and associated liabilities, maximize the economic benefits of innovation and allow producer and consumer choice. This book intends to fill these needs with contributions from the top theoreticians, legal and economic analysts, policy makers and industry practitioners in the field. As the economics and policy of coexistence start to emerge as an separate subfield in agricultural, environmental and  natural resource economics with an increasing number of scholars working on the topic, the book will also provide a comprehensive base in the literature for those entering the area, making it of interest to students, scholars and policy-makers alike.  

• Coexistence
• Crops
• Farming
• Food supply chain
• Genetically Modified
• Organic

• Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA

  Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes

• Grad Sch Public Policy, Univ Saskatchewan, Johnson-Shoyama Grad Sch Public Policy, Saskatoon, Canada

  Peter W.B. Phillips

• Technische Universität München , Freising, Germany

  Justus Wesseler

• University of Saskatchewan , Saskatoon, Canada

  Stuart J. Smyth

Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes is the MSMC Endowed Professor of Agribusiness Strategy and the Director of the Economics and Management of Agrobiotechnology Center (EMAC) at the University of Missouri. His research, teaching and outreach focus on the economics and policy of agrifood biotechnology and other agribusiness innovations.


Peter W.B. Phillips is Distinguished Professor of Public Policy in the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He undertakes research on governing transformative innovation, including regulation and trade policy.



Justus Wesseler is Professor and Head of Group Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy in the Social Science Department at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. He undertakes research on the contribution of the bio-economy value chain to sustainable development.



Stuart Smyth is an AssistantProfessor and holds the Industry Chair in Agri-Food Innovation in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. His research focuses on the sustainability and farm level impacts of genetically modified crops.

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