The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
Agricultural biotechnology applies biological tools to crops, livestock, soils and food processing: improved varieties, disease diagnostics, biological pest control and microbial products for soils. It can help agriculture adapt to climate change and reduce chemical inputs, while raising questions about environmental effects, equity and governance. This topic, studied at Biotechnology and Biosecurity, a platform of The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI), examines those applications and their effects across food systems.
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Agricultural biotechnology is the use of biological techniques, from marker-assisted breeding to gene editing, to improve crops, livestock and food production. This page covers its risk governance: biosafety assessment of living modified organisms under the Cartagena Protocol, environmental effects, food safety review and the access and benefit-sharing rules that apply to genetic resources.
The working screen behind this subject: its structure, terms and states. Names are placeholders and values illustrative.
Agricultural biotechnology · National committee · Review year 2
| Institution A | Active | Q1 | 88 | Current |
| Research campus | Active | Q2 | 87 | Audit due |
| Biomanufacturing site | Forming | none | 59 | Support |
| Diagnostic network | Active | Q3 | 86 | Current |
Plant and animal breeding have long relied on genetic variation; biotechnology adds tools to create and select it more precisely. Applications include drought and disease tolerance, improved nutrition and reduced post-harvest losses. Biological pest control and soil microbial products offer alternatives to some chemical inputs. Diagnostics help detect crop and livestock diseases early, limiting spread.
Environmental effects depend on the trait, the farming system and the landscape: effects on non-target species, gene flow to wild relatives, and changes in pesticide use have all been studied. Social effects depend on access, ownership and the structure of seed and input markets. Regulatory approaches differ widely between jurisdictions, which affects trade in seeds, grain and food products and the speed at which new varieties reach farmers. Food systems are studied at Food Nexus and ecosystems at Biodiversity Nexus.
Controlled trials and monitoring, drawing on agricultural, soil and food science, measure agronomic and ecological effects.
Comparative frameworks assess new products against conventional counterparts.
Studies examine adoption, incomes, access and market structure.
Long-term and landscape-scale effects are hard to observe, results vary by context, and studies differ in independence and design.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Living modified organism | An organism with a novel combination of genetic material obtained through modern biotechnology, as the Cartagena Protocol defines it. |
| Gene editing | Techniques such as CRISPR that make targeted changes to an organism's DNA; regulators differ on how they classify the products. |
| Marker-assisted selection | Breeding that uses DNA markers linked to desired traits to select plants or animals more quickly and accurately. |
| Access and benefit-sharing | Rules under the Nagoya Protocol for obtaining genetic resources with prior informed consent and sharing the benefits of their use. |
This evidence informs regulatory decisions on new varieties and products, agricultural research priorities and plant and animal health surveillance. National regulators, agricultural ministries, farmers and research institutions decide. Governance of food systems and nature is convened by Climate and Nature Governance at The Global Risks Forum (GRF). Related topics are One Health impacts, synthetic biology and biomanufacturing; methods sit on agricultural, soil and food science and biotechnology platforms.
Published analysis on this topic is designed to carry a named subject reviewer, its references and the views of independent specialists, including biosafety professionals and those who disagree.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.