Agriculture has benefited from technology and science through the gradual adoption of chemicals, improved crop varieties and sophisticated machines. Among the economic benefits of such innovations are increased food and feed production and cost reductions for both producers and consumers. Indeed, innovation, which is intrinsic to agriculture, is gradually increasing in sophistication, particularly innovations embedded in plants themselves. Over the last three decades, agricultural biotechnology research has extended beyond input-trait genetically-modified (GM) products and expanded into the commercialization of output-trait GM products. This development is due in part to a number of emerging new breeding techniques (NBTs), such as genome editing. However, as with most biotechnological innovations, particularly those related to food, countries assimilate or reject them based on distinct socio-economic and political realities. In the specific case of new biotechnologies, thus far, developments have been the same (Schuttelaar & Partners 2015).

Unlike complex, imprecise and lengthy conventional (CONV) breeding, genome editing led by CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) has the potential to accelerate crop improvement and food production (Yin et al. 2017). Genome editing technology allows for the targeted, and high-precision rearrangement of plant genomes (Puchta 2017). Based on preliminary applications and the biological concepts underlying genome editing, many in the scientific community are optimistic that it will contribute significantly to precision breeding, thus reducing product development costs in comparison to CONV and genetic modification (Bortesi and Fischer 2015; Georges and Ray 2017). Various techniques based on genome editing concepts offer new opportunities to develop crops with a wide spectrum of improvements at reduced costs through the clear-cut insertion of favourable traits or the knock-out or deletion of undesirable traits (Abdallah et al. 2015).

Genome-edited crops promise a host of benefits for consumers. Examples include soybeans with improved oil profiles, tomatoes with enhanced flavor qualities, non-browning apples, potatoes, and white mushrooms, and fish with enhanced muscle mass. However, diverging social perspectives within and among key consuming markets about safety, as well as potential environmental risks of genome-edited crops and foods do not bode well for consumer acceptance and subsequent regulatory approval (Ishii and Araki 2016a).

This paper reports the results of a survey that solicited opinions of experts on the potential benefits of genome-edited crops compared to their GM and CONV counterparts. Experts were asked about their opinion on several agronomic, environmental, and socio-economic benefits of genome-edited crops. The results were also tested for the effects of region of residence and type of expertise (scientific experts versus social scientists) on the perception of these benefits. The paper is structured as follows: first, we briefly review the key benefits and challenges of different breeding approaches (GM, CONV and genome editing). Next, the methodology and survey design are described, after which survey results are presented and discussed. A brief conclusion summarizes the study.

Overview of different breeding approaches

Plant breeding began as early as 13,000 years ago when plants were first cultivated for human use (Balter 2007). It was not until 1900, with the validation of Gregor Mendel’s work on genetics, that scientific breeding methods were employed. Thanks to this work, throughout the twentieth century, development of new crop cultivars with higher yields, improved quality and better resilience was possible (Bradshaw 2017). However, for all the success stories of twentieth century plant breeding, the twenty-first century has ushered in a set of challenges that solutions from the past century are unlikely to address (Stamp and Visser 2012). Extreme climate variability, increasing water scarcity and less arable land are just some of the novel challenges plant breeders must face. It is also expected that plant breeding, at least in part, will be required to consider and respond to socio-economic factors that have never before been a concern, such as the inexorably rising demand from the increasing human population and an accompanying ensemble of factors including changing diets (influencing type, quantity and quality of food demanded), increased urbanization, and the corporate concentration of plant breeding. At the same time, biological constraints considerably limit ‘classical’ approaches to breeding, thereby giving rise to a greater need for novel breeding techniques.

GM crops

In 1953, the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the chemical carrier of genetic information, was published (Watson and Crick 1953). Just over two decades later, Cohen et al. (1973) described the method with which functional foreign DNA could be inserted into another organism. This breakthrough became the foundation of genetic modification, arguably one of the most important recent developments in science, especially to modern agriculture. Thus far, genetic modification has primarily been used to introduce foreign DNA into target crops to make them insect resistant or herbicide tolerant, with these two traits often being ‘stacked’ (ISAAA 2017).

Globally, over the past two decades GM crops have provided farmers in adopting countries an array of economic, environmental, and health benefits (Smyth et al. 2015). GM crops have contributed significantly to the reduction of environmental impacts from herbicide and insecticide use. Since 1996, the use of pesticides on the GM crop area has decreased by 671.4 million kg of active ingredient relative to the amount expected had conventional crops been employed on the same area (Brookes and Barfoot 2018). In addition, relative to conventional crops, 2945 million kg of carbon dioxide have not been released into the atmosphere, because of the fuel saved from fewer runs needed to spray GM insect-resistant maize and cotton (Brookes and Barfoot 2018). Despite this, for a diversity of reasons, some still regard the technology with suspicion, thus giving cause for greater technological regulatory delays and more barriers to international trade, which usually result in forgone benefits (Smyth 2017b). To a certain extent societal concerns regarding the safety of food derived from GM crops is understandable, given the public’s limited knowledge (Popek and Halagarda 2017). It would be overly optimistic, to expect the general public to be able to differentiate between GM and genome-edited crops in the absence of transparent information or public education efforts. Furthermore, the politicization of risk has created a divergence of regulatory approaches: the major crop exporting nations (e.g. North America, Australia, Argentina, Brazil) use a pragmatic, science-based approach while importers (e.g. the EU and others) have been more cautious, using science tempered by political considerations (Smyth and Phillips 2014).

Genome editing

Mutagenetic technologies advanced rapidly in the 2000s into what is now known as genome editing, which refers to point-specific mutations in the genome, such as site-directed nucleases (SDN) and oligo-directed mutagenesis (ODM). The SDN technology includes a number of variants with analogous function: transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN), zinc-finger nucleases (ZFN) and meganucleases, culminating in the discovery of CRISPR (Doudna and Charpentier 2014). SDNs allow for the introduction of small precision modifications (SDN 1 and 2) of larger pieces of DNA or introduction of complete genes at a predetermined location (SDN3). Genome editing has numerous advantages over earlier technologies, most significantly that it allows for targeted, single gene mutation across the entire plant genome. The CRISPR suite of breeding tools offers an easier, more versatile and accurate form of mutagenesis that facilitates transfer of the desired trait to progeny without losing any efficacy (Georges and Ray 2017). This technology is able to perform mutations to a specific site within the targeted gene, making the effects on the plants more significant (Song et al. 2016), as it can be programmed to target specific segments of genetic code or edit DNA with greater accuracy (Barrangou 2015). In addition to crop breeders, this is particularly attractive to animal and medical scientists as they anticipate the potential for treating disease through genome editing. Importantly, it holds great potential for public sector plant breeding in developing countries, allowing for local and regional solutions to improving food security. For example, a Chinese research group (Miao et al. 2018) has already made use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology to create a rice variety that yields 25–31% more output than conventional varieties. This could have profound implications for food security.

Nonetheless, for all the benefits CRISPR/Cas9 seems capable of providing, Smyth (2017a) identifies that not all governments will embrace this technology. One reason is that applications of genome editing yield different outcomes. Some modifications (SDN 1 and SDN 2) can be generated by chemical mutagenesis, radiation or natural mutations, with the resulting organisms similar to those obtained by traditional breeding or classical mutagenesis (e.g. glyphosate-resistant CRISPR rice for weed control). Other repair mechanisms involve delivering foreign DNA (SDN 3), with the outcome that the resulting products would be viewed as transgenic for regulatory risk assessments. In 2016, in response to a lawsuit launched by nine non-governmental organizations, a French court referred a request to regulate genome-edited varieties as GMOs to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for an interpretation of European Law pertaining to new plant breeding techniques, especially CRISPR/Cas9. On 25 July 2018, the CJEU ruled that mutagenic crops are subject to the European Union’s regulatory system in the same way as transgenic GM organisms (CJEU 2018). The ruling refers to modern forms of mutagenesis, and it did not clarify any genome-editing exemption. Regrettably, additional clarity will not be forthcoming as in January 2019 the European Commission announced that no new legislation regarding the regulation of crop technologies is planned, resulting in the CJEU ruling being binding in its current form (Livingstone 2019).