
Greg TraxlerCornell University | CU · Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition
Greg Traxler
Doctor of Philosophy
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69
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
January 2015 - May 2017
June 2008 - December 2014
August 1990 - June 2008
Publications
Publications (69)
We examine the distribution of welfare from the introduction of Bt cotton in the United States in 1996. The welfare framework explicitly recognizes that research protected by intellectual property rights generates monopoly profits, and makes it possible to partition these rents among consumers, farmers, and the innovating input firms. We calculate...
Semi-dwarf wheat varieties have been slow to diffuse in some regions despite their superior grain yield. We analyze varietal
differences in yields of the joint products of grain and straw, the decision to adopt new varieties, and nitrogen demand.
The low straw yield of semi-dwarf varieties under low input conditions is shown to be a plausible expla...
Price discrimination and monopoly power in the provision of an intellectual property (IP) protected innovation are analyzed. A general analytical model parameterized with data from the US introduction of Bt cotton is used to examine welfare transfers from the imposition of price discrimination. When two markets are being served under a one-price po...
The driving force behind the growth of the agricultural biotechnology industry is the potential to increase efficiency in the production of commodities and to provide benefits to consumers and producers as well as profits for industry. Value-enhanced genetically modified crops have the potential to provide new momentum to the industry. Using the US...
GMOs have had little effect on the world food supply. This chapter assesses the institutional capacity and incentives to deliver GMOs for food crops to developing country farmers. In only a handful of instances have GMOs been delivered for food crops or by institutions other than multinational corporations. The challenge of the “GMO Revolution 2.0”...
International plant breeding efforts aim to help address global challenges such as food insecurity, climate change and micronutrient deficiencies, but how much do we know about where new varieties are being used at scale in farmers’ fields? We use farmer-reported survey data and DNA fingerprinting data from samples of plant tissue that were collect...
Farmers have been growing GM crops for 20 years and planted 180 million hectares to GM crops in 2015. Qaim provides a thorough and unbiased review of the accumulated research on the risks, benefits, and policy issues surrounding the use of GM crops in developing countries. The book will be valuable for anyone looking for a readable and credible sou...
CIMMYT Economics Paper No. 5. Mexico, D.F.:CIMMYT, 1992.
This introduction relates how Wallace Huffman went from a farm boy in southern Iowa to Iowa State University and the University of Chicago, and then brought the human capital approach of T.W. Schultz and D. Gale Johnson back to Iowa State. We also show how Huffman's work in human capital, rural labor markets, technological innovation, returns to re...
The Crop Improvement Research System in the United StatesThe Case of CottonConclusions and Directions for Future ResearchNotesReferences
Despite the evidences of benefits from GM papayas adoption in other countries, concerns over the loss of export markets and health and environmental risks have led to great uncertainty and indecision about policies to support biotechnology in Thailand. Since 2001, field trials have been banned and the use of transgenic plants for production, consum...
Paraguay is a society comprised of two vastly different populations. One population is urban, Spanish speaking, educated and employed in the formal sector. The other is rural, speaks GuaranÃ, has little schooling, and is self-employed. This paper examines rural labor markets in Paraguay. The effect of deficiencies in social services on participati...
The Bush administration has proposed major changes in federal funding mechanisms for state agricultural experiment station research. The objective of this article is to examine winners and losers from proposed changes in the proportions of federal-formula versus competitive grant funding of public agricultural research at the state level. The outco...
We examine the impacts of different open space amenities on sales prices of developed and undeveloped land in two time periods ten years apart in a rapidly urbanizing county in central Ohio. Buffers within 0.25 and 0.5 miles are created that include percentages of agricultural, residential, park and golf course uses around each land sale and are us...
This paper surveys the level and distribution of economic impacts of GMOs in the Americas from 1996–2004. Key institutional factors influencing GMO diffusion are discussed. In 2004 the Americas accounted for 94%, of world GMO area. Diffusion has been concentrated; four countries, four crops and two traits account for the vast majority of area. The...
The intent of the survey was to construct a data base on scientists working as of 2001
on plant breeding research (PBR), gene pool enhancement (GE), cultivar development
(CD), and plant biotechnology development (BIO) for field, forage, horticultural, and
special crops in the US. The questionnaire was sent to ARS/USDA, to state agricultural
experim...
The effect of policy decisions on the competitiveness of genetically modified (GM) crops was examined. The United States has been an early innovator in the development and use of biotechnology crops and has expanded its export market share of the three major GM crops: soybeans, cotton, and corn. Cotton, soybeans, and corn are all grown in the south...
Although adoption rates of genetically modified crops have been staggering in some countries, there is still comparatively little evidence about biotechnology impacts under diverse agroecological and institutional conditions. These knowledge gaps lead to an overly precautious attitude among policy makers and the public. This article analyzes the ef...
In this paper, we present an economic model of the supply and demand for a second wave of genetically modified (GM) crops, referred to as output quality or value-enhanced crops. These include plant varieties that have one or more modified output characteristics adding end-user value to the commodity, such as higher quality oils and increased protei...
In 2003 North and South America (NSAm) accounted for more than 64 million ha, 94%, of total world area planted to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Delivery has occurred almost entirely through the private sector and adoption has been rapid in areas where the crops addressed serious production constraints and where farmers had access to the ne...
We examine the farm-level impact of Bt cotton in Coahuila and Durango, Mexico. Bt cotton was introduced in Mexico in 1996. It has been an important tool in reducing pesticide use by more than 50% and generating annual benefits of US$2.7 million. About 85% of benefits accrued to farmers and 15% to seed suppliers. Adopting farmers spent $100 less on...
We examine the distribution of welfare from the second-year planting of Bt cotton in the United States in 1997. We also provide preliminary estimates of the planting of herbicide-tolerant soybeans in 1997. For Bt cotton, total increase in world surplus was $190.1 million and US farmer share of total surplus was 42%. The gene developer, Monsanto, re...
Genetic improvement has been a major contributor to agricultural productivity in the United States, but many questions about
the economics of crop breeding, such as the value of pre-commercial germplasm, remain unanswered. This study estimates the
marginal value of poorly characterized materials contained in the U.S. national germplasm system. With...
In 1999, transgenic cotton was grown in six countries on a total of some 3.7 million hectares, making it the world’s third most common transgenic crop (Table 10.1). Bt cotton has been grown in Mexico since 1996 and was planted on one third of the country’s cotton area during the 2000 growing season. A number of papers have now been published on the...
The introduction of a second wave of product quality GMOs has the potential to provide new momentum to the agricultural biotechnology industry. The challenge facing the industry is to generate innovations that will allow them to offer a large adoption incentive while capturing sufficient revenues to support R&D investment.
This report concentrates on the potential for biotechnology research to benefit consumers and producers of food in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its objective is to provide general guidance to IDB lending for agriculture development. The study includes policy suggestions regarding agricultural biotechnology issues in IDB-funded programs. Special...
Este informe se enfoca en el potencial que tiene la investigación biotecnológica de beneficiar a los consumidores y productores de alimentos en América Latina y el Caribe (ALC), con el objetivo de orientar en términos generales las actividades de financiamiento por parte del BID. El estudio incluye sugerencias de políticas sobre biotecnología agríc...
This chapter reviews the economic benefits and costs of Bt cotton, with detailed analysis of rent creation and distribution in 1996 and 1997, by using survey data. It provides the preliminary surplus estimates for Bt cotton in 1998 and then compares the preliminary results from 1998 both to estimates from 1996, and to the estimate from the 1997 pla...
We used a disaggregate approach to examine investment efficiency of wheat breeding research in India. India’s total research effort comprizes 20 research programs spread across 50 experiment stations. A technology spillover matrix was constructed for both potential and actual spillovers. Spillovers and free-riding were dominant characteristics of t...
Bt cotton was introduced in Mexico in 1996. It has been an important tool in reducing pesticide use by more than 50% and generating annual benefits of US$2.7 million. About 85% of benefits accrued to farmers and 15% to seed suppliers. The average holding of adopting farmers was 14 ha. Victory over the pink bollworm, once the dominant insect pest, w...
We used a disaggregate approach to examine investment efficiency of wheat breeding research in India. India's total research effort comprizes 20 research programs spread across 50 experiment stations. A technology spillover matrix was constructed for both potential and actual spillovers. Spillovers and free-riding were dominant characteristics of t...
We examine the distribution of welfare from the second-year planting of Bt cotton in the United States in 1997. We also provide preliminary estimates of the planting of herbicide-tolerant soybeans in 1997. For Bt cotton, total increase in world surplus was $190.1 million and US farmer share of total surplus was 42%. The gene developer, Monsanto, re...
Exploration of a germplasm collection for a particular trait is viewed as a search within a given distribution. An optimal strategy would be to search and collect additional accessions for traits as long as expected benefit is greater or equal to the cost of collecting, conserving and testing it. The probability of finding a desirable trait depends...
Investments over the past 35 years have created a system of national and international research centers that has revolutionized the supply of improved cereal varieties to developing country farmers. The newly created scientific ability to exploit genetic resources has been the engine of productivity growth in much of world agriculture. But the succ...
A handful of vertically coordinated "life science" firms have been the key players in ushering in the biotechnology revolution in the United States. These firms have been successful in linking useful genetic events with high quality germplasm to create genetically modified varieties ( GMVs) with the ability to gain rapid market penetration and to c...
The structure of the United States (U.S.) public-private plant genetic research system is being transformed by the emergence of practical biotechnology protocols for creating transgenic plants; and by strengthened intellectual property protection in plants. This paper draws on some simple principles of incentives and appropriability to discuss the...
Although genetically modified varieties (GMVs) have been commercially successful in the United States(U.S.), their future in developing countries (DCs) with smaller markets is uncertain. How likely is it that relatively small countries will gain access to GMV technology? Will the dominance of biotechnology by multinational firms make GMV technology...
The scientific ability to exploit genetic resources has been the engine of productivity growth in much of world agriculture for the past 35 years. Developing country wheat yields have risen at 3.4%/yr between l969 and l995 (ClMMYT, l996) and rice yields have risen at an annual rate above 2%/yr (Pingali and Heisey l996). Higher input levels and irri...
Continuous cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) production was examined using data from Alabama's long-term Old Rotation experiment (c. 1896). Index values were used to examine trends in productivity and sustainability for 95 yr. Treatments studied were those receiving (i) no N fertilizers and no winter legumes for 95 yr, (ii) only winter legumes as a so...
In the wake of increased environmental and sustainability concerns associated with agricultural development, developing countries are faced with the dilemma of choice between the short-run technological gains and the long-run environmental conservation. A dynamic investment decision model is developed to optimize the use of scarce public investment...
The role of IARC-generated technology in the global system of spring wheat improvement is examined for the period, 1977–90.
Nine of the thirty–eight developing countries that produce spring wheat demonstrate the capacity to develop varieties from
their own crosses; the other countries focus on screening CIMMYT germplasm for direct release. Over 40%...
A Just-Pope production function is used to estimate the effect of genetic improvement on the first two moments of wheat yield
for the period 1950–86. The model characterizes the green revolution as the culmination of an era in which wheat breeders
achieved rapid increases in yield potential accompanied by higher yield variances. To date, the post-g...
Discusses a possible economic reason for the adoption of the spindle harvester by US Southern Piedmont cotton farmers, once it became practical. The mechanical cotton picker proved to be the single most dramatic change affecting productivity, its impact being powerful enough to offset the effect of many other changes in the system. -J.Sheail
AJAE per capita page counts provide one measure of an institution’s research strength. In this article we refine WWS et al.’smeasure of department size and, based on the refined measure, recompute departmental ratrMngs for North American institutions. Results indicate that Northeastern United States departments are more widely represented among the...
Returns to research studies have neglected research on crop management (CMR), which may account for half of all crop research. Because CMR enhances the efficiency of input use, returns to CMR are hypothesized to increase in settings characterized by high input levels and high yields. A method is developed to estimate returns to CMR, and this method...
Compared to their urban counterparts, the rural poor are more likely to be employed, more apt to be members of married-couple families, less likely to be children, less likely to be minority, and more likely to have assets but a negative income. This paper examines poverty rates and factors that affect mobility in and out of poverty among major cat...
Within the Conservation Reserve (CR) program, a change in program criteria could reduce the amount of erosion material entering our nation's waterways. The inclusion of land adjacent to water bodies, flowing streams, and river waterways may reduce erosion from these lands and improve water quality. These buffer strip areas, removed from production...
scribing productivity gains to specific genes or accessions is difficult because of the nature of the research process in genetic enhancement, the relationship among genes within a genome, and the interaction of genes with the envi- ronment of the crop. Even in commercialized agriculture, the value of unimproved material used for genetic enhancemen...