Paper short abstract:

Governance of agricultural biotechnologies needs to consider the broader socio-ecological system that they embody and engender. Using empirical data from Spain, we explore some of the methods available for advancing this systems-based approach and foster reflections on the governance of coexistence.

Paper long abstract:

Over the past twenty years, agricultural biotechnologies have generated chronically unresolved political controversies. The standard tool of risk assessment has proven to be highly limited in its ability to address the panoply of concerns that exist about these hybrid techno/organisms. It has also failed to account for both the conceptual and material networks of relations agricultural biotechnologies require, create and/or perform. In this presentation we argue responsible governance of agricultural biotechnologies needs to be evaluated them within the context of the broader socio-ecological system that they embody and engender. We explore, compare and contrast some of the methodological tools available for advancing this systems-based perspective. We conclude by outlining a new synthesis approach of comparative cartographies of agri/cultures generated through multi-sited ethnographic case-studies, which is proposed as a way to generate system maps and enable the comparison of genetically modified food systems with both conventional and alternative agri-food networks. We articulate this approach with empirical data from Spain that is especially relevant for fostering reflections on the governance of the coexistence between organic, conventional and GM crops and particularly the unresolved frictions created by these different agri-food models trying to exist and gain or keep a market share.