Responses to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2008 challenge on how to feed the world in 2050 have come in many forms. There have been increases in research project funding, increases in developed and developing world partnerships and the application of new plant breeding techniques to several crop types.

The speed and diversity of innovation in plant breeding has rapidly increased over the past decade, resulting in the need for new regulatory processes, as well as changes to existing processes to better assess risk thereby increasing the efficiency of the regulatory systems. In fact, there is considerable uncertainty among the plant breeding community over whether or how to employ these new breeding techniques.

To better understand how regulation, commercialization and the adoption of new technology are influenced by stakeholder risk preferences, we are launching a multi-year survey to better understand risk, risk preferences and risk aversion, and how these factors affect the efficiencies of regulatory policy and decision-making. Our survey pool includes scientists, regulators and business professionals drawn from around the world.