Assessing environmental impact of new technologies: genetically modified seeds in Brazilian agriculture

• Grant number: 14/14241-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: February 23, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics - Agrarian and Natural Resource Economics
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Cláudio Ribeiro de Lucinda
• Grantee: Renato Nunes de Lima Seixas
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto (FEARP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project investigates the environmental impacts, associated with pesticides, caused by adoption of two types of genetically modified seeds in Brazilian agriculture: insect resistant (IR) cotton and herbicide tolerant (HT) soybeans. These technologies change the mix of pesticides used by farmers and so, have potential to produce relevant environmental externalities. IR cotton substitutes insecticides applications and that control bollworms infestation and reduce the environmental impact of the crop. HT soybeans are resistant to harmful side-effects produced by certain low toxicity herbicides. Hence this technology induces more use of less toxic herbicides. The resulting environmental impact is, nevertheless, ambiguous and depends on how farmers substitute away from more toxic chemicals. The net effect should them be evaluated empirically, making use of observational data and a clear strategy to identify the causal effect. In the present research project, we will use a new data set on agricultural production and biotechnology adoption that allows us to identify the causal effect of interest by using variation in the use of pesticides between fields cultivated with conventional and genetically modified seed within the same farm to estimate the causal effect of biotechnology adoption on the environmental impact associated with chemical pesticides. (AU)