RUMIGEN: Specifying acceptance opportunities for genomic and epigenomic approaches

Background

To make ruminants more resistant to changing climate conditions and to improve animal welfare, further selective breeding is needed. Advanced techniques depending on genomic profiling and selection and even gene editing may provide an efficient and effective way forward. Within Europe regulations on gene-technology is very restrictive and the debate whether these can be relaxed seems frozen.

Project description

Within the larger Rumigen project, we are developing a novel way of integration citizen and stakeholder views into the development of new breeds. Traditional surveys or focus groups often start from predefined determinants or aim to merely define determinants of acceptance. Scenario studies do rely on sets of determinants but usually create extreme outlooks on futures. In Rumigen, together with the Danish Technology Board, we are developing and testing a method that aims to integrate a large range of determinants. After its selection we discuss acceptability on each of these determinants to explore, what we coined the Room of Acceptance for Rumigen breeding. The aim of this task in the project is hence twofold. (1) to provide animal breeder insights into the most acceptable ways forward and the associated trade-offs and (2) to develop the Room of Acceptance approach as a more broadly applicable method to explore conditions that technology development should aim for to optimize societal acceptance.