Pathways of Conflict: Lessons from the Cultivation of MON810 in Germany in 2005–2008 for Emerging Conflicts over New Breeding Techniques

Beate Friedrich

doi:10.3390/su12010144

Abstract

The paper uses qualitative interviews and document analysis to examine conflicts over plant and animal breeding techniques from the perspectives of Social and Political Ecology. It asks how past conflicts over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can inform understandings of possible trajectories of emerging conflicts over new breeding techniques (NBTs) such as CRISPR/Cas genome editing. Case studies of conflicts in three areas where the transgenic maize MON810 was cultivated in Germany from 2005–2008 show that the escalation of conflict coincided with the first tangible presence of these already controversial organisms in the rural landscape. Location-specific interlinkages between discursive and material dimensions gave rise to different pathways of conflict in the three areas studied. These empirical results inform the analysis of emerging conflicts over NBTs in Germany and the United Kingdom. The future of NBTs in both countries is still open, and the divergence of regulatory frameworks in Europe could lead to the development of ‘NBT hotspots’ located in particular European countries, provoking an escalation of conflict in areas where commercial application takes place. The paper concludes by examining the potential for a politicization of future conflicts to encompass wider issues related to the transformation of agricultural systems towards sustainability.

Highlights

The genetic manipulation of plants and animals and their use in agriculture and food production are highly contested, and conflicts have accompanied the introduction of transgenic organisms wherever this has occurred (e.g., [1,2,3,4])
MON810 is the only genetically modified (GM) plant that is approved for cultivation in the European Union (EU), and it is widely cultivated in Spain and, to a limited extent, in Portugal
While the immediate causes of conflicts were often problems involved in applying the EU’s policy of “coexistence”, the actors involved viewed these problems within the framework of wider debates on the future of agriculture

Summary

Introduction

The genetic manipulation of plants and animals and their use in agriculture and food production are highly contested, and conflicts have accompanied the introduction of transgenic organisms wherever this has occurred (e.g., [1,2,3,4]). In the European Union (EU), regulations governing the use of GMOs are based on a policy of ‘coexistence’ This policy envisages the parallel existence of agriculture with and without GMOs [8]. Individual genetically modified (GM) crop varieties still have to be approved for commercial cultivation, and to date, only a few have received such approval; these include the two maize varieties ‘Bt176’ and, ‘MON810’, and the starch potato ‘Amflora’. To date, these GM crops have been cultivated in quite small amounts in only a few European countries. The vast majority of croplands in the EU are GMO-free [5]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion