Economic Impacts of Plant Biotechnology in the Northern Plains Region of Texas

Abstract

The impacts of expected advances in crop biotechnology in the Northern Plains Region of Texas are estimated by optimizing the risk/return trade-off for representative farms. Historical yield distributions are used to derive baseline optimal solutions for the representative farms. Expected advances in crop biotechnology are incorporated into the representative farm models using yield distributions from a panel of biological experts. The results indicate that such advances could significantly increase producers' revenues and generally decrease the associated risks.