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Transgenic maize was approved in Brazil in 2008/2009. In 2012, it occupied 73% of the country maize growing area. This high adoption rate confirms studies indicating that technology use has been the major driving force in Brazilian agriculture. Maize seed market in the world has been a concentrated sector. Although, when this sector is associated with transgenesis, this concentration increases sharply. In one side, there is the idea that companies can benefit from gains of scale and complementarities to maximize their efficiency in research and development (R&D). On the other side, this concentration may allow the exercise of “market power” by dominant companies. The objective of this study is to analyze the impacts of the adoption of transgenic technology in the arrangements of maize breeding programs and seed production sector in Brazil. A critical analysis of the situation of the breeding programs that do not have this technology is made.

The goal of this study was to evaluate yield and net return of a maize crop fertilized with different rates ofconventional mineral fertilizer and cattle manure. The CSM-CERES-Maize model was used to simulate the nitrogen (N)fertilization management scenarios. Twelve treatments were simulated as follows: T1, T2 and T3 were, rates of 90, 130and 160 kg ha-1 of N as conventional fertilizer, respectively; T4a, T4b and T4c were 4.5 t ha-1 of air-dried cattle manure,rated at 17.05, 22.73 and 34.09 US$ per ton, respectively; T5a, T5b and T5c were 6.5 t ha-1 of air-dried cattle manure,rated at US$ 17.05, US$ 22.73 and US$ 34.09 per ton, respectively; T6a, T6b and T6c were 8.0 t ha-1 of air-dried cattlemanure, rated at US$ 17.05, US$ 22.73 and US$ 34.09 US$ per ton. It was assumed that the air-dried cattle manure has2% of N. The conventional mineral fertilization with a nitrogen rate of 90 kg ha-1 (T1) resulted in an average yield of 4.812kg ha-1 and average profitability of US$ 35.56 ha-1, while higher nitrogen rates caused economic losses. Profitabilitiesof US$ 120.90 and US$ 183.50 ha-1 were obtained with cattle manure rates of 6,500 and 8,000 kg ha-1, respectively.