Lay and scientific categorizations of new breeding techniques: Implications for food policy and genetically modified organism legislation

Breeding by intervening: Exploring the role of associations and deliberation in consumer acceptance of different breeding techniques

New plant breeding techniques may play an important role in improving food quality, global food security and sustainability. Previous breeding techniques have, however, met with substantial resistance from society. This study examined the role of associations and deliberation in the evaluation of breeding techniques. Breeding techniques studied included conventional breeding, gene-editing, genetic modification (cisgenesis and transgenesis), marker-assisted breeding and synthetic biology. By using focus group discussions that included individual tasks, we found that when participants relied on their spontaneous associations, gene-editing was evaluated similarly as genetic modification. However, after information provision and group discussion, gene-editing was preferred over genetic modification. Perceived naturalness was found to be the main reason for obtaining different levels of acceptance, not only between gene-editing and genetic modification but across all breeding techniques examined. These findings highlight the importance of associations and show that beliefs about naturalness remain crucial in understanding how consumers evaluate breeding techniques.

Potential abiotic stress targets for modern genetic manipulation

Research into crop yield and resilience has underpinned global food security, evident in yields tripling in the past 5 decades. The challenges that global agriculture now faces are not just to feed 10+ billion people within a generation, but to do so under a harsher, more variable, and less predictable climate, and in many cases with less water, more expensive inputs, and declining soil quality. The challenges of climate change are not simply to breed for a "hotter drier climate," but to enable resilience to floods and droughts and frosts and heat waves, possibly even within a single growing season. How well we prepare for the coming decades of climate variability will depend on our ability to modify current practices, innovate with novel breeding methods, and communicate and work with farming communities to ensure viability and profitability. Here we define how future climates will impact farming systems and growing seasons, thereby identifying the traits and practices needed and including exemplars being implemented and developed. Critically, this review will also consider societal perspectives and public engagement about emerging technologies for climate resilience, with participatory approaches presented as the best approach.

Consumer and regulatory response to climate change-new plant breeding techniques

Climate change is having a significant impact on the global grape and wine sector. We are seeing earlier and more compressed vintages, more extreme weather events, and a warming of temperatures. These are all leading to management changes in both the vineyard and the winery. Overlaying these physical changes are the mega-consumer trends that are demanding more sustainable production patterns. These trends are changing consumer attitudes to many previously held beliefs. Solutions with a trend toward a sustainable and agrochemical-free agriculture and production chain are needed. Technological advances in plant genetic engineering, coupled with the sequencing of the grapevine genome, has enabled new techniques that can rapidly be used to enhance positive characters in grape vines and wine. Changing consumer attitudes have led to a number of regulators reviewing their existing food regulations for genetically modified (GM) food. The debate around the definitions for GM food and whether these are fit for purpose since the emergence of a range of new techniques for genetic modification has the potential to dramatically change the landscape for grape and wine production internationally. In this paper we explore the current regulatory developments, consumer trends and attitudes and the implications for the grape and wine sector as we seek to cope with the demands of climate change and provide a sustainable future for the planet.

Towards social acceptability of genome-edited plants in industrialised countries? Emerging evidence from Europe, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan

The agricultural biotechnology world has been divided into two blocks; countries adopting GM crops for commercial cultivation (adopters) and others without any or without relevant cultivation of such crops (non-adopters). Meanwhile, an increasing number of adopter countries have exempted certain genome-edited (GE) crops from legal GMO pre-market approval and labelling requirements. Among them are major exporters of agricultural commodities such as United States, Canada, and Australia. Due to the relaxed legislation more GE plants are expected to enter the market soon. Many countries in the non-adopter group, however, depend on import of large volumes of agricultural commodities from adopter countries. Unlike first generation GM, certain GE crops cannot be identified as unambiguously originating from genome editing using available techniques. Consequently, pressure is mounting on non-adopter jurisdictions to reconsider their policies and legislations. Against this backdrop, the paper explores recent developments relevant for social acceptability in selected non-adopters, Japan, New Zealand, the EU, Norway, and Switzerland in contrast to United States, Canada, and Australia. While Japan is already opening-up and Norway and Switzerland are discussing revisions of their policies, the EU and New Zealand are struggling with challenges resulting from high court decisions. In an attempt to take a closer look into the inner dynamics of these developments, the concept of social acceptability proposed by Wüstenhagen et al. (Energy Policy, 2007, 35(5), 2683-2691) is employed. This aids the understanding of developments in the jurisdictions considered and identifies specific or cross-cutting challenges.