Presentation at Oregon State University to faculty, students and postdocs on January 20, 2015. The topic is a basic primer on GMO technology and how to communicate it with the public.

1. Rethinking Communication in
Agricultural Biotechnology
Kevin M. Folta
Professor and Chairman
Horticultural Sciences Department
kfolta.blogspot.com
@kevinfolta
kevinfolta@gmail.com

2. "There is a path to truth and sincerity that you must
guard and defend“
-- Teruyuki Okazaki

3. •13 international scholars
•Undergraduate researchers
•Examine how light affects plant traits, and use as a non-
chemical treatment for enhanced shelf life
•Use of natural fruit volatiles to slow spoilage
•Connecting genes to important traits in small fruits.
•Marker-assisted breeding
My Research Program

4. Everyone Loves New Technology

5. Rekindled Awareness
FarmersDeveloping World
The NeedyFood Safety
Environment
Consumers

6. But What About Agricultural Biotechnology?
Generally:
People don’t have any idea what it is.
People don’t know how biology works.
Few understand farming and supply chains.
The just know that they don’t like biotech crops.

7. A Small Number of Non-Scientists Influence Public Opinion
Oz Smith Shiva Adams Mercola Food Babe
Why?
There is money to be made in manufacturing risk.
There is a market of the credulous poised to
ampilify the message

8. Relativenumberinpopulation
Relative understanding
Activists
Farmers,
scientists,
Etc.
MOST PEOPLE!!!!
Based on findings from UF PIE Center

9. What Does the General Public Really Think?
“92% of Americans demand to
know what is in their food”

14. 1996 Today Wide Application
Smart Regulation
Public Participation
Traits in Minor Crops
Consumer Traits
Acceptance Gap X years
Minor effectors:
Continued safe implementation
Consumer-centric traits
Major effectors:
Decreasing credibility of vocal minority
Recognition as complementary / synergistic
with organic/sustainable
#1 Effector
Communication via high-credibility channels
Less impact of “leaders”
Dire predictions never materialize
How to Fix It? Shifting the Middle

15. Communicating the Message (General)
•Communication is listening and responding
•Understand your audience. They are concerned about food
•You must prove that you understand their concern
•Always discuss strengths and limitations
•If you don’t know, offer to find out
•This is about sharing science, not beating people to death
with it.
•It is about being a teacher. Recognizing that you know more
about a topic than others, and working hard to clearly explain
the issue.
•This is not as much a scientific exercise as a
communications exercise.

16. Communicating the Message (Specific)
•Master a central core of key concepts
•Understand mechanisms of current traits
•Be able to address basic mythology
•Emphasize lost opportunities
•Take on active engagement and participation
Increasingdifficulty

17. Central Core Concepts
Humans have always participated in plant genetic improvement.
Transgenic crop technology (familiar “GMO”) is a precise extension
of conventional plant breeding.
“The techniques used pose no more risk (actually less risk) than
conventional breeding.” (NAS, AAAS, AMA, EFSA many others)
In 17 years there has not been one case of illness or death related
to these products
In the USA there are several traits used in only nine commercial
crops

18. Dispelling the Naturalistic Fallacy– This is
Nothing New!
Remind audiences that genetic improvement of food is
a continuum.
Almost none of the plants we regularly consume
originated in North America. Almost all were brought
here by humans.
None of the food you eat is like its “natural” form
GM technology is simply the most precise version of an
age-old practice of breeding and selection.

19. Humans have always manipulated crop genetics

21. GE vs. Traditional Breeding
Wide crosses exchange hundreds or thousands of genes
and gene variants; GE moves only one/few.
Traditional breeding frequently uses plants that could
never normally cross, GE uses genes from self or any
other organism
GE can monitor the effect of a specific change; breeding
seeks to judge the effect on plant productivity and does
not address possible effects on individual genes.

22. Only nine crops, basically three traits.
Memorize which ones are commercialized.
Ask others which ones are commercialized.
See how the answers match.
Or don’t.

23. GM Crops Available Now
9
potato

24. Keep it Simple– What are the Three Main Traits?
Virus Resistance
Insect Resistance
Herbicide Resistance
(how the traits work lecture online – (google “ UF biotechnology literacy day”)

25. Strengths Limitations
Virus resistance Works great, no foreign
material
Has cut insecticide use
by 10-70%
Saves time, labor, fuel.
Allows conservation
tillage
Can spread to nonGM
populations
Pockets of developing
resistance
Resistant weeds are a
problem in areas.
Insect resistance
Herbicide resistance
Distill Into Digestible Units - Keep it simple. Discuss
strengths and limitations (don’t create false equivalence)

26. COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

27. “FACTS DON’T MATTER.”- Tamar Haspel
People reject the validity of scientific conclusions if they
contradict their deeply held views
“Backfire Effect”- when confronted with evidence that is
contrary to their views, people tend to believe that the
evidence is distorted. They also “dig in the heels” with their
beliefs
Cultural Cognition – belief in trangenic harm as part of a
package of beliefs
False Equivalence, “no consensus among scientists”

28. To win hearts and minds we have to come at it from a
different angle.
Humanization- I’m a parent… I care about my community… My
family’s health is my priority…
Your Priorities- Profits for farmers… low environmental impacts…
Food for those that need it… affordable, safe food in the
industrialized world…
You can lead smart people to a conclusion- Ask questions, based
on impacts for people and the environment.

29. Your Role is to be a More Trusted Source
1. Share your story. People respond best to a narrative.
2. Your job- “I work for you”, “I would not be able to sleep at
night knowing I did something dangerous”
3. Your funding- “all public record”, “companies sell to farmers,
if they are not happy, we don’t profit”, “if anyone were to be
harmed we’d be out of business”
4. Use your real name and provide an email address in online
discussions.
Transparency builds trust, trust helps communication.

30. Avoid these Mistakes
Avoid “feed the world” rhetoric
Always discuss strengths and limitations
Don’t ever claim it is a single solution.
Don’t discount all facets of “organic” ag
Don’t criticize other forms of genetic improvement…
Never get backed into the “science no”
“Can you guarantee that these are absolutely safe?”

31. Rely on Graphics Over Words
Instead of “glyphosate is relatively
harmless- don’t worry about it.”

32. How Do We Shift Public Sentiment?

33. How do we participate effectively?
Winning the Emotional Capital
Consequences of Non-Action
and Lost Opportunities
Opposition to this technology has significant costs.
The needy
The environment
Farmers
Consumers

34. Technology Exists NOW
Research has been published demonstrating that
transgenic techniques can:
Help farmers save labor, fuel, water, fertilizer, other
inputs.
Biofortify foods with vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients
Grow plants in marginal areas
Grow plants with fewer inputs
Efficient use of fertilizers
Insect resistance
Disease resistance

35. Crop Biotechnology 2.0
What opportunities are lost because of the
rigorous, time consuming and expensive
deregulation process?

37. Golden Rice
X
Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy
Opposition to golden rice cost $2 billion to
farmers in developing countries and 1.4
million human years – Wesseler et al., 2014

38. Cassava
Virus Resistant Cassava (VIRCA)
Biocassava Plus (BC Plus)
250 million depend on cassava
50 million tons lost to virus.
X
X Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy

39. Survives moderate drought, especially at key times like flowering
It is based on overexpression of a maize stress gene
Non transgenic transgenic
X
X Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy

40. Allergy-Free Peanuts
Peanut – RNAi suppression Ara h2
X
Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy

41. BS2 Tomato
A pepper gene in tomato eases black spot and wilt.
X
X Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy

42. High Anthocyanin Tomato
A transcription factor excites anthocyanin production in fruits
X
X Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy
X
Longer shelf life too.

43. Low Acrylamide, non Browning Potatoes
X
X
Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy

44. Non Browning Apples
Silencing a gene that leads to discoloration
X
X
Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy
Small Business!X

45. Grapes resistant to Pierce’s Disease
X
X
Farmers
Consumers
Environment
Needy
X

47. One acre of omega-3 producing soybeans yields as much oil as
10,000 fish!

48. Stopping Citrus Greening
Spinach defensin
NPR1
Lytic peptides
Many show promise
Earliest deregulation is
2019

49. Edible Cotton Seeds!
Chestnut blight has
destroyed the American
Chestnut.
A single gene confers
resistance to the
disease.
Not food… so
deregulation is an
interesting question.

50. What Happens if We Fail to Stand Up for Science?
Expensive and
Unnecessary Changes in
Public Policy
Limited Choices of
Improved Varieties for
Farmers
Fewer Choices for
Consumers
Slower
Deployment of
Technology
that Could Help
the Needy

51. What Happens if We Fail to Stand Up for Science?
Slow Deployment of New
Plant Varieties that Limit
Inputs Affecting the
Environment
Consumers Live in Fear,
are Exploited by Charlatans
Endless litigation
Negative
Perception of
Food and the
Farmers that
Grow It.

52. Action StepAction Step
Start a blog. Write weekly
Get a Twitter account. Post daily
Participate in online comments and forums, particularly in local papers.
Talk to one person a week that does not understand biotechnology
Contact your representatives and make your voice heard.
Know how to find the educators and reach out to them.
I will help you get started.

53. In Conclusion
Our mission is to develop genetics and production
methods to generate more food on the same space with
fewer inputs.
Learn the basics, or at least learn where to find the basics
When communicating these topics, remember, we are not
always talking to people that understand science and
agriculture. Teach with compassion.
Facts don’t matter. You need to be a trusted conduit first,
before information can be persuasive.

55. "There is a path to truth and sincerity that you must
guard and defend“
-- Teruyuki Okazaki

56. Where do I get good information?
Warm welcome Cold facts
kfolta@ufl.edu
GMOanswers.com
Biofortified.org geneticliteracyproject.com
GMOLOL
On
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