Crop Genetic Resources: An Economic Appraisal

By Kelly Day Rubenstein, Paul Heisey, Robbin Shoemaker, John Sullivan, and George Frisvold

Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB2) 47 pp, May 2005

Crop genetic resources are the basis of agricultural production. However, crop genetic resources are largely public goods, so private incentives for genetic resource conservation may fall short of achieving public objectives. Within the U.S. germplasm system, certain crop collections lack sufficient diversity to reduce vulnerability to pests and diseases. This report examines the role of genetic resources, genetic diversity, and efforts to value genetic resources.

Keywords: agriculture, genetic resources, genetic diversity, agricultural production, genetic resource conservation, landrace, economics, germplasm, international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, genetic uniformity

In this report ...

Chapters are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

• Report summary, 136 Kb

• Abstract, Contents, and Summary, 64 Kb
• Introduction, 60 Kb
• Economic Values of Crop Genetic Resources, 71 Kb
• Factors Influencing Trends in Crop Genetic Diversity, 43 Kb
• Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources, 140 Kb
• References, 56 Kb
• Appendix, 41 Kb

• Entire Document, 280 kb.

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Updated date: May 24, 2005