Plant biotechnology already is creating high-paying jobs and economic value and will deliver even more value both on the farm and beyond the farm gate in the years ahead, according to a study by University of Minnesota professor C. Ford Runge.

"The vast stock of plant breeding and genomic research and development knowledge that led to the biotech revolution will generate billions of dollars in additional economic benefits for farmers and others in the agrifood value chain and within public and private research communities," Runge said.

Four commercial biotech crops -- corn, soybeans, cotton and canola -- represented $20 billion in value in the United States in 2002, half of the total $40 billion value of the four crops.

Runge, director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy and Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Applied Economics and Law, released the study during a news conference at the National Press Club. He is scheduled to present the study later today at the Fall Forum of the National Conference on State Legislatures in Washington, D.C.

The study, "The Economic States and Performance of Plant Biotechnology in 2003: Adoption, Research and Development in the United States," is an up-to-date effort to provide a detailed view of biotechnology's value at the farm level and beyond the farm gate, where the crops -- and the research and development that creates them -- generate additional jobs, income and investment in the agrifood chain and public and private research community.

The U.S. Corn Belt and cotton-growing regions gained the most economic value from planting biotech crops in 2002, led by Iowa ($3.8 billion), Illinois ($2.5 billion), Minnesota ($2.2 billion), Nebraska ($1.8 billion), Indiana ($1.3 billion) and South Dakota ($1 billion). Following these major corn and soybean growing states, Missouri was next with $1 billion, followed by North Dakota ($689 million), Ohio ($619 million) and cotton-producing states Arkansas ($670 million) and Mississippi ($528 million).

"The economic impacts of plant biotechnology also are increasingly evident beyond the farm gate and in individual states active in biotech research and development," Runge said. "Beyond the more than $20 billion in biotech crops grown in 2002, new plant biotech firms and research facilities are being created throughout the United States. The number of agricultural and food scientists are increasing as workers are attracted to the biotech sector's above-average wages, and large number of individual states are reaping the benefits of this investment and job-related activity."

"While 41 of 50 states had some type of biotech initiative by 2001, those that have aggressively adopted and invested in biotechnology are reaping the greatest rewards," Runge said. Corn Belt states with higher adoption levels of biotech crops have a greater number of ag and food science jobs than those with lower levels of adoption. For example, Iowa, one of the top five states in crop biotech adoption, has 50 ag and food science jobs per 100,000 jobs, more than lower adoption states. The average annual salary for these jobs in 2001 was $52,310 -- more than one and a half times the U.S. average of $34,020.

In Wisconsin, where 56 of the 200 bioscience companies are dedicated to agriculture, the study indicated there are 21,000 workers who account for $5 billion of the Badger state's economy.

In the past two years, field tests have been conducted on 100 new biotech crop traits by 40 universities and 35 private sector companies -- from a new variety of corn with an improved nutritional profile for use as an animal feed to a type of wheat that can better withstand droughts. Runge said continued investment in research and development -- along with more public education about the benefits of biotechnology -- is key to achieving further gains from plant biotechnology.

"As consumer confidence grows, it will feed the demand for new biotech varieties, increase the advantages of those willing and able to supply them, and indirectly establish a base of support for continued public investments in plant biotech," he said. "That translates directly into high social rates of return in the form of educational and job opportunities."

The study is available in PDF format at http://www.apec.umn.edu/faculty/frunge/plantbiotech.pdf.

Support for the study was provided by the Council for Biotechnology Information. The results are those of the authors alone and not the University of Minnesota.