Regulation as key to fulfilling the promises of agricultural genomics: Going beyond bottlenecks in plant gene technology development

The development of new gene technologies including gene editing has reinvigorated long-standing global debates about if and how such technologies should be regulated. Many scientists working in agricultural genomics believe that current regulatory approaches are problematic, often emphasizing that the regulatory system is merely a ‘bottleneck’ that limits research and innovation in crop sciences. The concept of a ‘bottleneck’ is prominent in discussions in this domain, but we contend that what counts as a ‘bottleneck’ depends on point of view and the interests and goals of the party that wishes to describe a particular situation as bottlenecked. In this Focused Review, we provide a short account of recent scholarship on gene editing regulation and argue that regulation is an important part of the research development and innovation process that should not merely be viewed as a ‘bottleneck.’ Regulation permits regulators and diverse publics to engage with research and assess whether the particular application of gene technology is desirable and beneficial beyond the laboratory bench or field. We conclude by providing lessons for scientists working in agricultural genomics, emphasizing the need to move away from visions of ‘bottlenecks’ and embracing regulation's potential to support the promises associated with agricultural genomics.