ECOGEN - Soil ecological and economic evaluation of genetically modified crops (preface)

The biodiversity of, and processes performed by soil organisms make up a crucial part of the natural basis for agricultural production and, therefore, have subsequent economic consequences. ECOGEN was a research initiative funded under the European Commission Framework 5 programme, designed to integrate the combined soil ecological and economic effects of introducing systems including genetically modified (GM) crops by performing data mining and building decision support systems. The project involved eight academic partners from five EU countries and an input from Monsanto. Maize expressing an insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt-maize) was chosen as the model GM crop due to its availability, while studies using GM herbicide tolerant (HT) maize were initiated in the latter stages of the project.