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      Genetic engineering at the heart of agroecology

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          Abstract

          We discuss whether genetic engineering and agroecology are compatible. For this, we investigated three cases of genetically engineered crops and considered agroecology as scientific discipline as well as a social movement. One case was the use of cisgenic modifications to make potato durably resistant to late blight, the second was the use of CRISPR/Cas to make rice resistant to bacterial blight and as a third case, we evaluated experiences with cultivating transgenic Bt crops. These cases demonstrated that genetic engineering offers opportunities to grow crops in novel integrated pest management (IPM) systems with, as direct benefit, a decrease in the use of chemical crop protection agents, and as indirect effect that the role of predators and biological control agents can become more important than in present conventional systems based on pesticides. We used a framework based on four concerns (both cons and pros) that were gathered from an extensive societal interaction organized around the Dutch research project DuRPh, which produced a proof-of-concept of a cisgenic late blight-resistant potato. We concluded that genetic engineering and agroecology certainly have synergy in the context of agroecology as science, when applied to making crops less vulnerable to pests and diseases and when combined with cultivation using IPM. By contrast, within the movement context, genetically engineered varieties may be welcomed if they include traits that contribute to successful IPM schemes and are socially benign. Whether they would actually be deemed desirable or acceptable will, however, vary depending on the norms and values of the social movements. We propose that some concerns may be reconcilable in a dialogue. Deontological arguments such as naturalness are more difficult to reconcile, as they relate to deeply felt ethical or cultural values. A step forward would be when also for these arguments everyone can make an informed choice and when these choices can coexist in a respectful manner.

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          Most cited references30

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          The emerging and uncultivated potential of CRISPR technology in plant science

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            Loss of susceptibility as a novel breeding strategy for durable and broad-spectrum resistance

            Recent studies on plant immunity have suggested that a pathogen should suppress induced plant defense in order to infect a plant species, which otherwise would have been a nonhost to the pathogen. For this purpose, pathogens exploit effector molecules to interfere with different layers of plant defense responses. In this review, we summarize the latest findings on plant factors that are activated by pathogen effectors to suppress plant immunity. By looking from a different point of view into host and nonhost resistance, we propose a novel breeding strategy: disabling plant disease susceptibility genes (S-genes) to achieve durable and broad-spectrum resistance.
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              Cisgenic plants are similar to traditionally bred plants: international regulations for genetically modified organisms should be altered to exempt cisgenesis.

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Outlook on Agriculture
                Outlook Agric
                SAGE Publications
                0030-7270
                2043-6866
                March 2020
                March 02 2020
                March 2020
                : 49
                : 1
                : 21-28
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands
                Article
                10.1177/0030727020907619
                afb70a0f-d8d2-4c1b-81ef-b2bbdc3dd3e1
                © 2020

                https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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