Communicating about plant breeding and genome editing in plants: Assessment of European stakeholders, sources, channels and content

Genome editing helps to develop plant varieties that address future agricultural challenges such as climate change adaptation, resource efficiency and sustainable productivity. Nevertheless, associated aspects relating, besides others, to the regulation of genome editing, intellectual property rights and potential environmental and health aspects lead to fierce discussions within the European Union. In these discussions, values and moral aspects play a decisive role. To support and set the stage for an open-minded dialogue, the communication behaviour and needs of specific stakeholder groups has been analysed by means of two online surveys. The surveys considered sources and channels used for information sourcing and dissemination, conveyed content and relevant target audiences. In addition, the degree of trust of stakeholders in different information sources was assessed. Stakeholders included representatives from academia, civil society organisations (including environmental and consumer organisations), journalists, the farming community, the seed and plant breeding sector and policymakers across Europe. Our analysis suggests that, in general, a high level of trust is associated with representatives from academia, and that safety-related aspects, transparency and sustainability are considered very important topics across the different stakeholder groups. In addition, social media seem to play a subordinate role for inter-stakeholder communication but is of higher relevance for reaching out to the public.

Automated summary

Genome editing has the potential to address future agricultural challenges and has sparked intense discussions within the European Union. These discussions involve various aspects such as regulation, intellectual property rights, and environmental and health concerns, and are influenced by values and moral aspects. To facilitate open-minded dialogue, two online surveys were conducted to analyze the communication behavior and needs of specific stakeholder groups. The surveys examined information sources, content, relevant target audiences, and the level of trust in different information sources. The analysis revealed that representatives from academia were generally trusted, and safety, transparency, and sustainability were considered important topics by different stakeholder groups. Social media played a minor role in inter-stakeholder communication but had greater relevance for reaching the public.