Science, Technology, and the Regulation of Food and Agriculture #1

Session Submission Type: Open Panel

Abstract

Food and agricultural production have long been shaped by scientific and technological innovation. Technologies designed to increase crop yield, produce novel traits, maintain biodiversity, and improve the global transport of goods significantly transform the food ecosystem from production and processing to transport and consumption. Simultaneously, these transformations prompt new regulations that often evoke broader ethical concerns about the future of food. Today, almost every technological innovation in food involves some type of novel regulatory response. These regulatory interventions not only shift how people access, interact with, and understand food, but also iteratively transform the spaces in which techno-scientific innovation takes place.

This panel explores how the science of food and agriculture intersects with emergent regulatory regimes. Regulation may refer specifically to the law and its application, but might also encompass the institutional practices that shape scientific research, the organization of agricultural production, or the socio-cultural norms that determine what foods can or should be eaten. Some of the questions that might be asked include: How has intellectual property – from patent and plant variety protection through to trademark and trade secret law – reconfigured contemporary food production? How are foods categorized, packaged, and labelled, and how do those regimes shape the materiality of the food itself? What do new developments in biotechnology and gene editing mean for key regulatory food categories like ‘GM’ or ‘organic’ food? What resources are available for local communities to resist or reconfigure the regulatory landscape in a manner suitable to their divergent needs?

Sub Unit

• Papers for Open Panels / Science, Technology, and the Regulation of Food and Agriculture

Discussant

• Andrew Ventimiglia, The University Of Queensland

Individual Presentations

• Making Legal Space for Food: Science, Safety and Regulation Through Food Sovereignty Ordinances - Amy Trauger, University of Georgia

• Reimagining the Natural in the American Food Industry - Ai Hisano, Kyoto University

• The Sense in Consensus: Sensory Platforms for Horizontal Decision-making and Leadership in Radically Democratic Environments - James Debowski, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University

• Who Has Voice in Decision-Making About Emerging Technologies? Examining Influence in the Regulatory Review Process - Teshanee Williams, North Carolina State University

• Regulatory Responses to New Plant Breeding Techniques - Karinne Ludlow, Faculty of Law, Monash University

• Conceptions of “Technology Supply” and their impact in the development of Territorial Innovation Systems - OSCAR A. FORERO, Corpoica-Colombia; SOAS-UK; Corina Buendia, CORPOICA; Eliana Martinez, CORPOICA

Session Organizer

• Susannah Chapman, Law School, The University of Queensland