Regulating the New Agricultural Biotechnology by Managing Innovation Diffusion

Abstract

After 15 years of promise, the new agricultural biotechnology is now being planted in farmers’fields and is found in America’s food supply. Taken together with the promise of reduced pesticide use and the resulting healthier environment, the adoption and proper management of this technology, as well as public acceptance of it, is highly important for its continued use. This article considers objective attributes and subjective factors in the adoption and management of new technologies and applies them to a much-vaunted and widely used agricultural biotechnology that promises chemical pesticide reduction but threatens biological pollution of the environment: crops genetically engineered to express Bacillus thuringiensis. Analysis of user workshops in Chicago and Memphis during the summer of 1999 suggests that difficulties may lie not with the seeds themselves but with the adoption of management practices that preserve the pesticidal capabilities of the plants.