Source: UNIV OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO submitted to
KNOWLEDGE FOR POLICY: CRITICAL RESEARCH FOR UNDERSTANDING POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF ABS ON EIGHT SECTORS OF GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICU
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0220127
Grant No.
2009-65213-06026
Project No.
ILLR-2009-05478
Proposal No.
2009-05478
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
97100
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2009
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2012
Grant Year
2009
Project Director
Welch, E. W.
Recipient Organization
UNIV OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
(N/A)
CHICAGO,IL 60680
Performing Department
Office of Research Services
Non Technical Summary
Access to and use of genetic resources, building blocks of food and agricultural products, are critical to the competitiveness, safety, and quality of the US food supply, agriculture and the environment. Genetic resources are used in many sectors of food and agriculture such as breeding new or improved livestock and fish breeds, the development of diagnostic assays to detect food safety or animal/plant health threats, the application of new microorganisms in processed foods, such as the use of yeast in bread or wine, or the quest for probiotics - bacteria and fungal strains with health promoting qualities, which have gained in popularity among consumers. New developments in international fora may affect the ability of US researchers in both the public and private sectors to access genetic resources. Even though an international regime governing terms of access to and benefit sharing (ABS) from the use of genetic resources is currently being developed, little is known about the patterns of access or use of genetic resources for food and agriculture in the US. Hence, the goal of this project is to develop a policy-relevant understanding of genetic resources access, use and benefit sharing practices of the US food and agriculture user community, with an emphasis on examining the importance of foreign sources of genetic resources to US stakeholders. In addition to a review of the literature to identify sectoral level issues, we will conduct in-depth case studies of industry/research communities within selected sectors. We will combine analyses of trade flows, interviews with technical experts, and stakeholder surveys to quantify access patterns and to understand how stakeholders are strategizing in response to an emergent international ABS regime. The collection and synthesis of this information is being conducted during the final stages of the international efforts to develop an ABS regime. Thus, findings from each component of the study will be released to policy makers on an on-going basis in advance of key international meetings to ensure that timely and targeted information is available as the terms and approaches to the development of an ABS regime are considered.
Animal Health Component
20%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2113199108010%
2124099108010%
3033910108010%
3113910108010%
3114099108010%
5024099301010%
6063910301010%
6064099301010%
7123910301010%
7124099301010%
Knowledge Area
311 - Animal Diseases; 211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants; 502 - New and Improved Food Products; 712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins; 212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants; 303 - Genetic Improvement of Animals; 606 - International Trade and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
4099 - Microorganisms, general/other; 3910 - Cross-commodity research--multiple animal species; 3199 - Invertebrates, general/other;

Field Of Science
1080 - Genetics; 3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
Access to and use of genetic resources, building blocks of food and agricultural products, are critical to US agriculture. Currently, an international regime governing terms of access to and benefit sharing (ABS) from the use of genetic resources is being developed. Hence, the goal of this project is to develop a policy-relevant understanding of genetic resources access, use and benefit sharing practices of the US food and agriculture user community, with an emphasis on examining the importance of foreign sources of genetic resources to US stakeholders. We will describe the variation across food and agricultural sectors on use and access patterns of genetic resources of relevance to food and agriculture (GRFA) and describe the types of GRFA used in research and product production. In addition to sectoral-level information, we will also provide information on specific case studies of industry/research communities within each sector that represent the variation across sectors on norms of access and use of genetic resources. To meet the information needs of US policy makers engaged in international discussions/negotiations on ABS for GRFA, we will provide US policy makers with research findings available-to-date on the study's methodological approaches, sectoral overviews, and detailed case study findings in advance of major international meetings. The final deliverable will be a document synthesizing cross-sectoral findings of access and use patterns of genetic resources among the community of food and agriculture users in the US to provide insights on this issue for US policy development.
Project Methods
To systematically address the objectives of the study, we will conduct a two-year case study research design that uses multiple types of qualitative and quantitative data and analysis techniques to provide information on access, use and benefit sharing in several food and agriculture genetic resource sectors for policy makers, researchers, and end-users of genetic resources. We will first conduct a sector-level literature and document review as well as interviews of key stakeholders from each sector to understand the landscape of access and use patterns of genetic resources of relevance to food and agriculture (GRFA). Based on this review, we will then select several GRFA cases (sectors and organisms) for deeper analysis. Chosen cases will demonstrate variation across GRFA characteristics expected to determine access and use patterns. These include: material access and exchange characteristics (e.g. relevance of sourcing from gene banks, importance of access to foreign materials, and the importance of access to wild materials), intellectual property rights, product characteristics (e.g. how the GRFA is used in the research and development process), biological characteristics (e.g. whether breeding or screening GRFA leads to the development of the final product), and user community characteristics (e.g. sector distribution, researcher orientation and location, and industry structure). For the selected cases, we will compile and analyze available micro trade and exchange data to understand import and export flows, and to identify countries/regions of origin. We will conduct a survey of stakeholders on access and use needs, constraints, opportunities and behaviors. Finally, we will also use a new online interactive data collection technique to examine the level of awareness of and strategic responses by stakeholders in response to potential changes or current demands resulting from an emergent international ABS regime. These data will be analyzed using several techniques, including Q-methodology. The surveys will be designed to allow comparison of analysis results across sectors to facilitate use of the results by policy makers. Results will be made available on an ongoing basis to US policy makers in preparation for international meetings scheduled during 2009 and 2010. We will evaluate the impact of this project through an assessment of the adherence to the proposed work plan and feedback from US policy makers receiving study reports. Policy maker feedback will be used to refine the content of subsequent reports to ensure that the deliverables meet their needs and requirements.

Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/12

Outputs
Target Audience: The policy outreach activities conducted based on the research conducted were quite extensive. Dr. Welch and others were invited on numerous occasions to present material from the study to international audiences involved in negotiations of the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The research team has also presented at numerous national and international conferences. Based on the work done on this project, Dr. Welch has also served as an expert during international negotiations. A. Invited presentations to international policy makers (1) Invited Presentation: United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), 13th Regular Session, July 2011. Organized a Side Event on Current Practices of Exchange and Benefit Sharing in the United States. Sponsored by USDA through a Cooperative Grant with UIC. Organized by UIC, July 20, 2011. Two presentations: (a) Eric Welch, Current GRFA Exchange and Benefit Sharing Practices in the United States: Findings from a National Survey, (2) Harvey Blackburn, Y. Plante, Samuel Paiva; Y. Toishbekov, Exchange of Animal Genetic Resources and the Implications for ABS. (2) Invited Presentations to US Government: Current GRFA Exchange and Benefit Sharing Practices in the United States: Findings from a National Survey, (a) Senior Staff Meeting, Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA, Washington DC, June 22, 2011, (b) Special Presentation, Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA, Washington DC, June 22, 2011 (3) Invited Presentation: E Welch and JLong, Agricultural Genetic Resource Patterns and Practices of Exchange: Preliminary Findings from a Study of US Agricultural Stakeholders, Side Event, Tenth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (WG ABS 9 continued), Convention on Biodiversity, Montreal, Canada, July 2010. (4) Invited Presentation: E Welch and J Long, Current Benefit Sharing Practices within the Diverse Community of GRFA Users, Side Event, Ninth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (WG ABS 9), Convention on Biodiversity, Cali, Colombia, March 2010, Panel Organizer. (5) Invited Presentation: J Long, E Welch and M Haller, Attributes, Access and Use of GRFA in the US: Preliminary Information and Methods, Foreign Agricultural Organization (UN FAO) Commission on Food and Agriculture, October 2009, Rome Italy. B. Presentations at national and international policy research conferences (1) Shin, EJ and EW Welch, Multi-level Factors Influencing Exclusive Sharing of Genetic Materials among US Agricultural Scientists. Public Management Research Conference (PMRC), June, 2014, Seoul, South Korea (with E Shin). (2) Welch, E and S Louafi, Contested Inputs for Scientific Research: Why Access to Biological Materials Is Blocked, April 2014, Midwest Political Science Conference, Chicago, IL. (3) Seyoum, A and EW Welch, Trading off Use Restrictions and Benefit-Sharing for Genetic Materials for Food and Agriculture with an Emphasis on Upfront Payments, 53rd Annual Conference of GEWISOLA, September 25-27, 2013, Humboldt University, Berlin. (4) Shin, EJ and EW Welch, Local Evidence for Global Biodiversity Policy: A Linkage between Ecological Systems and Social Exchange Patterns of Genetic Materials in a US Agricultural Research Community, Midwest Political Science Conference, April 2013. (5) Shin, EJ and EW Welch, Explaining Institutional Effects on Research Performance via Material-Sharing: A Path Analysis of Non-Plant Genetic Research. Presented twice: (a) Association of Public Policy and Management, November 2012, (b) Gordon Research Seminar, August 2012 (6) Shin, EJ and EW Welch, Exchange of Non-plant Genetic Resources for Scientific Research at both Domestic and Global Levels, Gordon Research Conference, August 2012. (7) Research Using Non-plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: Modeling Material Sharing Behavior, ISETS Conference, Invited Presentation, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan, December 10, 2011. (8) Exchange Behavior of Scientists Using Non-Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture for Research: Findings from a National Survey, Invited Presentation, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, November 15, 2011. (9) Sharing Non-Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Research: actors, paths, and consequences, Invited Presentation, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, November 16, 2011. (10) Agricultural Genetic Resource Patterns and Practices of Exchange: Preliminary Findings from a Study of US Agricultural Stakeholders, Side Event, Tenth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit?sharing (WG ABS 9 continued), Convention on Biodiversity, Montreal, Canada, July 2010 (with V Long). (11) From Yeasts to Beasts: non-Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Patterns and Determinants of Access, Use and Benefit Sharing in US Agribusiness. Presented twice: Nagoya University, Japan, May 14, 2009; National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, May 22, 2009 C. Provision of expertise for and service on US government delegations (1) US Government Delegate, United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), 14th Regular Session, April 15-19, Rome, Italy 2013. (2) US Government Invited Observer, United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), Ad Hoc Technical Working Group on Access and Benefit-Sharing for Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (WG-ABS-1), Longyearbyen (Svalbard), Norway, September 11-13, 2012. (3) US Government Invited Observer, United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), 13th Regular Session, July 2011, Rome, Italy. (4) US Government Invited Observer, Expert on Access and Benefit sharing for Food and Agriculture, Nagoya, Japan, Conference of the Parties 10, Convention on Biodiversity, October 2010. (5) US Government Delegation, Invited Expert on Access and Benefit Sharing for Food and Agriculture, Ninth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (WG ABS 9), Convention on Biodiversity, Montreal, Canada, July 2010. (6) US Government Delegation, Invited Expert Access and Benefit Sharing for Food and Agriculture, Ninth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (WG ABS 9), Convention on Biodiversity, Cali, Colombia, March 2010. (7) US Government Delegation, US State Department, United Nations Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Invited Academic Expert on Access and Benefit Sharing for Food and Agriculture, Rome, Italy 2009. Changes/Problems: The primary change that occurred on the project was in leadership. Eric Welch replace Jennifer Long, who had accepted a position at US AID. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project provided the opportunity for training graduate students. It was particularly important for Dr. Eunjung Shin as she developed her dissertation from the data. Dr. Shin is now employed asa research scientist in the Korean Science Technology and Environment Policy Institute, a national policy research institute in Korea. Her work is focused on genetic resource policy. Dr. Shin was the primary research assistant on the USDA NIFA funded project. She was responsible for programming and administering the and online survey, and cleaning of the resulting data. She developed search protocols to identify the national population of researchers in three different sectors that use eight different types of GRFA organisms. She managed sample frame development. For the online survey instrument, Dr. Shin created a computer program to collect the names of multiple research projects entered by individual respondents, eliminate duplicate names, and advance the names forward in the survey as rows in future questions about the projects. She then managed all of the data transformations required to make the data operational and trained others in the methods she developed. In the fall of 2012, Dr. Shin was awarded a fellowship by the Institute of Environmental Science and Policy, a University of Illinois at Chicago campus-wide research institute, to support her dissertation work. In her dissertation, Dr. Shin integrated several theoretical perspectives to explain why scientists agree not to further distribute the genetic resources they receive and the effect the decisions have on the outcomes of their work, where outcomes include both publications and the production of intellectual property. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? There are several communities of interest related to this project. They include scientists using genetic resources, policy makers making decisions about the regulation and use of genetic resources, and the academic community. As noted elsewhere, the results from this study have been disseminated to members of all of these groups. Please refer to the Target Audience section of this report for more detail. Scientists were provided two briefings about the general findings of the survey. The briefings were promised as part of their participation in the survey. The briefings were delivered through email to survey participants. Policy makers in the US and other countries were informed about the project and findings through multiple presentations. Presentations were given in the Washington DC and in other international forums.The academic community is acurrent target of more in-depth analyses of the survey data. In addition to published work, the research team has developed four new manuscripts for submission using the data. Additionally, Dr Welch (PI) was invited to publish an editorial on genetic resource policy for the Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics (2012), which he did. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Statement At the outset of the grant, the US was involved in international negotiations regarding an international regime governing terms of access to and benefit sharing (ABS) from the use of genetic resources. The regime, now in force globally, is called the Nagoya Protocol (NP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). At the time, US government officials recognized the need to be better informed about the potential implications of the NP for research and innovation in all sectors: government, university and industry. Hence, this project aimed to develop a policy-relevant understanding of genetic resources access, use and benefit sharing practices of the US food and agriculture user community. It was to gather data that would provide empirical input into US approaches and negotiating positions. It is important to note that although the US has not ratified the CBD, all of its trading and research collaboration partners have done so. As a result, US researchers in all sectors who depend on globalaccess to genetic resources are fundamentally affected by new constraints on the exchange of these materials. In this project, significant efforts were undertaken to both build the necessary knowledge for US policy and to provide the data and analysis in ways that informed ongoing negotiations. As noted in other parts of this report, the PI provided input to the policy process in two ways. First, it presented findings to the broad range of international stakeholders such that the data could help inform the overall policy process. Second, the PI was involved as an expert on the US delegation to the Commission on Genetic Resources held at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO). As a member of the delegations, he was able to translate information gather from US researchers for use in the policy environment. One key issue before policy makers was whether there should be a one-size-fits-all approach to the establishment of protocols and rules governing the exchange and use of genetic resources for all stakeholders and organisms, or if there should be a more flexible approach in which variation across stakeholders and organisms would be taken into account. The project provided clear evidence of substantial variation across organisms that would make the one-size approach to global regulation untenable. The US government was then able to base its position as an advocate of flexibility on supporting empirical evidence. In the end, the current negotiations on the implementation of the protocol for agriculture are focused on flexible mechanisms obtaining access and permission for use. The overall effect that this project had on affecting the course of negotiations and the ultimate policy outcome is difficult to discern.The project funding waslimited in comparison to the financial investment that has been made by all nations related to this area of policy. Additionally, negotiations on implementationare ongoing and ultimate outcomes are not visible. Nevertheless, the model, adopted by the project and accepted by NIFA, to undertakemultidisciplinary researchto inform a critical juncture of nationaland international policyworked as intended. Primary Research Activity and Data Collected National Survey of Researchers using Non-plant Genetic Resources. The sample frame for included the population of researchers who use any one of the eight genetic resources. University researchers were selected based on online searches of researcher profiles using the common and scientific names as keywords in 201 university websites. The universities included Carnegie classified research intensive and extensive institutions and veterinary universities designated by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. Government researchers were sampled from 262 subunits of Agricultural Research Services under the USDA which are located across the US. A total of 1435 university and government researchers were surveyed. Company researchers, those who work in private companies and non-profit organizations in the US, were sampled by integrating multiple membership lists and publicly available online information. A total of 1048 company researchers were surveyed. Summary Statistics The following provides an example set of descriptive statistics. More detail is available in journal articles, book chapters, thesis and other products. Nearly 70% of universities/college (68.5%) and government agency (68.8%) respondents report that they use genetic resources for basic research. Only 18.2% of company researchers use them for this purpose. Respondents generally agree that the value of the product or process depends upon the distinct characteristics of the genetic resources used. (Mean = 2.47,3 point scale). Sending organisms to other US entities: 69.1% of private industry respondents report sending organisms to other US entities, compared to 28.2% and 38.3% of respondents in universities and government agencies, respectively. Receiving from other US entities: 78.2% of private industry respondents report receiving organisms from other US entities, compared to 46.2% and 47.7% of respondents in universities and government agencies, respectively. Sending to foreign entities: 40.9% of private industry respondents report sending organisms to foreign entities, compared to 11.8% and 16.4% in universities and government agencies, respectively. Receiving from foreign entities: 36.4% of private industry respondents report receiving organisms from foreign entities, compare to 14.7% and 15.6% in universities and government agencies, respectively. 45.2% of respondents report that federal regulations are an impediment to exchanging genetic resources. Over a quarter of all respondents state that regulations in foreign countries (27.9%) are impediments. More than half (58.7%) of the respondents report that they were expected to provide information on project results upon obtaining genetic resources. Key outcomes and accomplishments The project resulted in the collection of data to inform policy as presented inthe impact statement above. The numerous presentations, outreach and engagement activities, trainingopportunities for graduate studentsand publications presented elsewhere in this report. In addition, the research had a significant impact on the PI by altering his research trajectory to undertake more multidisciplinary research in the Food and Agriculture arena. As a result of his work on this project, he has been able to continue work in this area through additional funding from NSF, OECD, Agropolis Foundation, Bioversity (a CGIAR Centers), Climate Change for Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and others. The PI continues to be actively involved in research investigating the implications of regulatory controls on the global exchange and use of genetic resources for food and agriculture. He has also been able to build up additional infrastructure - research faculty, PhD students, visiting scholars, etc. - in the area of genetic resources for food and agriculture. Hence, the NIFA investment has fostered an important sustained research endeavor in this area. Dr. Welch continues to be actively involved in genetic resources issues and is now overseeing the first globalevaluation of the United Nation's Genetic Resources Programs. Without the NIFA funding, this research trajectory and this level of US involvement in important genetic resource policy activitieswould not have happened.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2014 Citation: Seyoum, A and EW Welch (in press) Ex-post Use Restriction and Benefit-Sharing provisions on Access to Non-Plant Genetic Materials for public research, Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Welch, EW, EJ Shin and J Long (2013) Potential Effects of the Nagoya Protocol on the Exchange of Non-plant Genetic Resources for Scientific Research: Actors, Paths, & Consequences, Ecological Economics, 86: 136-147.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Shin, Eunjung (2013) Exclusive Sharing of Genetic Materials in U.S. Agricultural Research: Antecedents and Consequences, PhD Dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Dedeurwaerdere, T, S Louafi, E Welch and F. Batur (2012) Global Scientific Research Commons for Biodiversity Based Innovation in Digitally Networked Environments: A Neglected Tool for Implementing the 2010 Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing, in E. Morgera, M. Buck and E. Tsioumani (eds.), The Nagoya Protocol in Perspective: Implications for International Law and Implementation Challenges, Brill/Martinus Nijhoff.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Seyoum, A and EW Welch, Use of Material Transfer Agreements and Implications for Food and Agriculture Research. Manuscript under preparation for submission.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Welch, EW and S Louafi, Contested Inputs for Scientific Research: Why Access to Biological Materials Are Blocked. Manuscript under preparation for submission.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Seyoum, A, EW Welch and S Louafi, Explaining Non-Plant Genetic Materials Providers Expectation of Non-monetary Benefits and Its Incentive Role: The Case of US Public Research. Manuscript under preparation for submission.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: Welch, EW and EJ Shin, Predictors of Researcher Agreements on Exchange of Genetic Resources: A Multi-level Analysis. Manuscript under preparation for submission.