ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s, agricultural biotechnology (henceforth agbiotech) has been promoted as a symbol of European progress and political–economic integration. According to proponents, agbiotech provides a clean technology for enhancing eco-efficient agro-production. By the late 1990s, however, ‘GM food’ became negatively associated with factory farming, its hazards, and unsustainable agriculture. GM products have generally faced commercial and/or regulatory blockages to market access in Europe. To bypass the blockage, in 2005 agbiotech was relaunched as an essential tool for the Knowledge-Based Bioeconomy (KBBE). This agenda has promoted next generation technologies for the development of non-food uses of renewable resources. This chapter addresses several questions:
Despite support from powerful political–economic forces in Europe, why did agbiotech encounter strong blockages there?
What was the European conflict about?
What can be learned from this experience for other new technologies, e.g. next generation biotech for a bioeconomy?
