Governing Agricultural Sustainability

"Distilling a decade of research at UK institutions, this wide-ranging collection wisely shifts our attention from the disputed technical properties of GM crops to the kinds of politics needed to accommodate GM agriculture on a global scale. If one book could prod the GM debate out of its current sterile stalemate, then this would be it." –Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Harvard Kennedy School, USA

"Can GM crops feed the world? Such an apparently straightforward question is revealed in this book instead as a lens on the daunting intersections of technological advance, globalization, political and economic power, and cultural identity. Through the subtle studies in this volume, GM crops become nothing less than a powerful and poignant metaphor for whatever it is that seems to have replaced the ruthless innocence of modernity."–Daniel Sarewitz, Professor of Science and Society and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes (CSPO) at Arizona State University, USA

"A fascinating and unique book addressing the development and deployment of GM crops in a wide variety of different agroecosystems and countries. It steers between the unhelpful dichotomies of the past, and shows that GM agriculture is neither inevitably a good thing or a bad thing: it depends on the social, ecological and political circumstances."–Jules Pretty OBE, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Environment & Society at the University of Essex, UK

"The quest to document, to make sense of and to advocate solutions to the continuing controversies surrounding genetically modified crops has spawned a large library of literature. This edited but integrated volume both contributes to that discussion and extends it in new directions. Rather than starting with an analysis of the claims and counterclaims for GM crops, it asks why such crops have not been viewed as a universal public good. In asking that question, it moves beyond the endless polemics and identifies how and under what conditions GM crops might be widely accepted. Moreover, by focusing on Mexico, Brazil and India – three nations where empirical research has been limited – the authors show how these technologies are framed differently in different settings. In so doing the authors illustrate the limits of both the information deficit model and formal risk analysis as means for resolving controversies. In their place, the authors present an alternative pluralistic and inclusive model for decision making – a model that just might move us toward better governance of technological change. Scholars and decision makers concerned about public controversies surrounding technological change would do well to read this volume."–Lawrence Busch, University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, USA