The Impact of Adoption of Genetically Modified Corn on the Off-Farm Labor Supply in the United States

With the production and cropping efficiency gains from adoption of Genetically Modified (GM) corn, the number of acres planted has increased steadily over the past decade. Also, the adoption of GM crops in general has an impact on the labor allocation decisions of farm operators. Using a large sample of Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) data, we estimate a two-stage left-censored simultaneous Tobit model to estimate the impact of adoption of GM corn on the off-farm labor supply of farm operators. Results indicate that the adoption of GM corn has had a negative and significant impact on the off-farm labor supply.