Managing Corn Production Risk Using Transgenic Hybrids.

Farmers have quickly adopted biotechnology and genetically engineered (GE) crop technologies. The specific objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that corn grain yield has increased while risk has decreased when compared to conventional hybrids. This hypothesis was tested using yield data from field hybrid evaluation experiments conducted during 1990-2010. Grain yield performance of GE technology varies. Some technologies increase grain yield over conventional hybrids, others perform similarly, and other have decreased yield. The observed range of single-trait GE hybrids compared to conventional hybrids was ‑1.8 to +1.3 Mg ha^‑1. A significant part of the benefits of GE technology comes from protecting corn yield and reducing risk exposure. These risk benefits favored GE technologies and ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 Mg ha^‑1. Gene interactions affect corn productivity through “yield lag” and “yield drag” effects, which may take up to 3 to 4 years for new technologies to be equivalent to yields of conventional hybrids.