In this research five Spanish, five Italian and ten  German farms were chosen to conduct case studies and examine economic effects of Bt maize cultivation. Spain is the only country of these three, where Bt maize had been planted in 2010. In Italy Bt maize planting has never been allowed and in  Germany  it had been allowed until 2009. Therefore data from Bt maize in Spain and  conventional maize in Italy and Germany from the year 2010 were gathered…..

 

Grain maize benefit from planting Bt maize are higher yields which have to cover the additional costs. In this research, yield increases were assumed to be 8.7 %. This yield  increase covers the  additional costs from  Bt maize planting for all farms and results in a gross margin increase. The profit for Spanish farms is the highest with an 

average gross margin surplus of 185 € per ha, followed by the Italian farms with 132 € per ha and German farms with 66 € per ha. The breakeven point for adopting Bt maize is a yield increase of 1.5 % in Spain, 2.8 % in Italy and 3.3 % in Germany. 

Silage  maize  benefit  for  farmers  is  mainly  the  healthier  crop  due  to  lower mycotoxin  contamination. This quality aspect is also of high importance for grain maize. However, the study shows the breakeven points for silage maize are reached at a yield increase levels of 2.9 % for Italy and 3.6 % for Germany on average among the case study farms……