Timely Regulations Enable Innovations that Bring Economic and Social Benefits

Sound, predictable, science-based regulations enable the delivery of innovation to the marketplace — and new agricultural innovations help grow more food in a sustainable way. In an interconnected global economy, food security relies on the ability of agricultural products to move efficiently between producers and consumers. Bans and delays – including delays in innovations reaching the marketplace – impede global initiatives to improve food and nutrition security, advance economic prosperity, and increase the adoption of environmentally sound practices. Sound predictable regulations bring innovation to the marketplace — and both exporting and importing countries alike can benefit from new innovations.

Mexico

Implementation of Mexico’s Presidential Decree banning genetically-modified (GM) corn will increase the country’s food insecurity, add $4.4 billion to its corn import costs, and impose unnecessary costly changes for US and Canadian farmers and a wide range of other industries. The world is already facing a looming food security crisis and policies like these add to this burden by decreasing productivity for North American farmers, adding increased volatility in the corn value chain for supply and pricing, and exacerbating existing supply chain and cost challenges.

CropLife International commissioned a report on the economic impacts of this ban. The findings can be seen below:

China

A study by Informa’s Agribusiness Consulting Group (Informa), The Impact of Delays in Chinese Approvals of Biotech Crops, quantifies the wide-reaching social and economic benefits both importing and exporting countries could realize if timely and functional regulatory systems were in place.

Timely approvals of biotech imports benefit both exporters and importers.

  • Exporters enjoy economic gains, as well as indirect benefits such as growth in the agricultural and ancillary industries. Farmers benefit from adopting biotech seeds that are more productive and require fewer natural resources and can better adapt to climate change conditions.
  • Importers benefit from having increased and diversified availability of food/feed crops, which help to ensure a safe and stable food supply, increased consumer choice, and reduced food prices in some geographies.

Download The Impact of Delays in Chinese Approvals of Biotech Crops [Full Report, Executive Summary, Report Methodology]

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