Ethical issues in developing new technologies in agriculture

Publication date: 12/06/2023
Extent: 20 pages

Contributions by: Bart Gremmen, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Chapter synopsis:

From the perspective of agricultural ethics, I am investigating potential ethical issues threatening radical innovation in agriculture, and what kind of questions these ethical issues entail for innovators. First, the role of ethics in the development of radical new technologies in general will be analyzed. My conclusion is that innovators have to be able to deal with emergent ethical issues in the development of new technologies. Secondly, the RRI initiative will be described and analyzed to apply it to agriculture. Thirdly, four potential ethical issues will be identified for developing new technologies in agriculture. These ethical issues signal the possible occurrence of criticism from stakeholders, consumers and policymakers and thus lead to specific normative questions innovators must answer. Two samples of developing agricultural technologies that aim to change organisms: genetic modification and the toolbox of New Plant Breeding Technologies will be analyzed.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2023.0125.12