In 2020, the world accommodates nearly 7.8 billion people. By 2050, world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion. With the exponentially growing population, decreasing resources, and intensifying climate change, it is compelling to adopt various production systems to attain food security. Thus, coexistence of different production systems has become a viable option for some countries.
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GE crops have been planted since 1996 and by 2018, there were already 191.7 million hectares planted in 26 countries. Continuous cultivation of GE crops in these countries together with non-GE crops confirms that coexistence is achievable.
Several studies have been conducted to test the feasibility of coexistence between GE and non-GE crops under real-life large-scale farming conditions. Overlapping flowering periods in GE maize and non-GE maize was found not to increase labeling threshold of 0.9% in a 2004 study in Germany. The study conducted in 30 sites was the basis for the 20 m planting distance between GE and non-GE maize, which can be separated by plants for pollen barrier.
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The North American experience in coexistence has shown that even if the greatest share (60%) was devoted to GE crops, the majority (96% of those surveyed) of organic farmers have not incurred economic losses due to the presence of biotech crops.
