Economics of transgenic herbicide-tolerant canola: The case of western Canada

Abstract Canola that is genetically tolerant to specific types of herbicide is now coming on the market. This is one of the first transgenic products to be traded internationally. There are a number of economic and agronomic concerns with the use of this product, ranging from consumer rejection, gene introgression and the environmental effects of herbicide use. This paper analyzes the economic effects of these important issues using economic welfare analysis. We examine the case of canola in western Canada.