June 2012: The EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published the proceedings of a workshop on socio-economic impacts of genetically modified (GM) crops. The report finds that there is insufficient evidence for a proper analysis of socio-economic impacts, and calls for the development of indicators to facilitate socio-economic studies.

Co-organized by JRC and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) in November 2011, the workshop aimed to review the findings of socio-economic studies to inform EU policy makers.

Among other issues, the report covers: socio-economic impacts of GM crop adoption on farmers; aggregated and global impacts of GM technology in agriculture; economics of segregation/coexistence of supply chains; economic compensation, liability issues and institutional framework; and direct and indirect impacts of GM crops on consumers, including health issues.

The report concludes that more socio-economic studies on the impacts of GM crops are necessary, in addition to strict science-based safety assessments, to enable a more objective and transparent reflection on GM crop cultivation. [Publication: International Workshop on Socio-economic Impacts of Genetically Modified Crops Co-organized by JRC-IPTS and FAO – Workshop Proceedings]