Farm questionnaires for monitoring the cultivation of genetically modified maize

The Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (BBA), maize breeders and statisticians have worked out a questionnaire for farmers to report on their observations of effects linked to the cultivation of genetically modified crops forming a part of a mandatory GMO monitoring regime. Questionnaires provide a low-cost opportunity for data acquisition - the farmers involved supply data on the actual cultivation of a crop. In a first step, the questionnaire on genetically modified (GM) maize was designed. The questions focus on potential effects related to the GM maize grown, as well as on background information describing the cultivation methods and the site-specific situations. In further steps the questionnaire will be adapted for additional crops and optimised as a tool and basis for statistical analysis.