<p>When our team came up with our initial approach and design, it was very exciting and seemed like a great solution that the Netherlands and the world could hugely benefit from. Talking with Tyler Coal and Jonathan P. Zehr helped us with our first design idea. First a big question was the feasibility of the project. Therefore, we thought of a roadmap what essential steps would be needed to make a crop plant successfully incorporate the nitroplast organelle and fix nitrogen from the air. To discuss our approach and receive a critical view we talked with scientists from seed companies like KWS seeds. Then our concern became that we are creating a GM plant by means of synthetic biology, and whether that would really be a great solution or a techno fix? (see the teams view on this at <strong>Our responsible innovation approach </strong>) To answer this question, first, we talked to Martijn Schaap from TNO to learn more about the nitrogen problem/pollution in the Netherlands. Then we contacted RIVM and Max van Hooren from COGEM to talk about environmental safety and what measures could be applied to our project. We also discussed aspects of risk assessment. Then we had a discussion with Amrit Nanda, who is the Executive Manager of Plants for the Future ETP on how our idea could be applied in Europe and how to communicate our project since GMOs are not popular in Europe currently. Meanwhile with talked with dr. Zoë Robaey (WUR) about responsible innovation and the social impact of our project.</p>
<p>When our team came up with our initial approach and design, it was very exciting and seemed like a great solution that the Netherlands and the world could hugely benefit from. Talking with Tyler Coal and Jonathan P. Zehr helped us with our first design idea. First a big question was the feasibility of the project. Therefore, we thought of a roadmap what essential steps would be needed to make a crop plant successfully incorporate the nitroplast organelle and fix nitrogen from the air. To discuss our approach and receive a critical view we talked with scientists from seed companies like KWS seeds. Then our concern became that we are creating a GM plant by means of synthetic biology, and whether that would really be a great solution or a techno fix? (see the teams view on this at <strong>Our responsible innovation approach </strong>) To answer this question, first, we talked to Martijn Schaap from TNO to learn more about the nitrogen problem/pollution in the Netherlands. Then we contacted RIVM and Max van Hooren from COGEM to talk about environmental safety and what measures could be applied to our project. We also discussed aspects of risk assessment. Then we had a discussion with Amrit Nanda, who is the Executive Manager of Plants for the Future ETP on how our idea could be applied in Europe and how to communicate our project since GMOs are not popular in Europe currently. Meanwhile with talked with dr. Zoë Robaey (WUR) about responsible innovation and the social impact of our project.</p>
<divclass="h3">KWS SAAT</div>
<divclass="h3">KWS SAAT</div>
<p>We had the opportunity (with the kind help of TU Delft AgTech Institute) to have a critical discussion with four scientists from KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA about our idea and experimental approach. KWS is an international seed company. We thought it is relevant to talk about the feasibility of our idea and approach with experienced scientist from a company that is relevant to seed development.</p>
<p>We had the opportunity (with the kind help of TU Delft AgTech Institute) to have a critical discussion with four scientists from KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA about our idea and experimental approach. KWS is an international seed company. We thought it is relevant to talk about the feasibility of our idea and approach with experienced scientist from a company that is relevant to seed development.</p>
<p>Disclaimer! Statements made during this interview are the personal opinions of Amrit Nanda and do not represent the positions of Plants for the Future or its members.</p>
<p>Disclaimer! Statements made during this interview are the personal opinions of Amrit Nanda and do not represent the positions of Plants for the Future or its members.</p>
<divclass="h2">Reaching Out to Stakeholders</div>
<p>Reaching out and talking to stakeholders was always in a respectful manner. The team applied for the approval of our project by the TU Delft’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) since our work involved Human Research Subjects. For this we needed to fill out a form and identify potential risks connected to our activities involving Human Subjects (interviewees), create a data management plan approved by the Faculty Data Steward and write an Informed Consent Form. Prior to all interviews, the Informed Consent Form was sent asking for consent for posting and eventually sending the interviewees the transcript of our conversation for their approval for sharing the information on the wiki webpage.</p>
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<divclass="h1">Reaching Out to Stakeholders</div>
<p>Reaching out and talking to stakeholders was always in a respectful manner. The team applied for the approval of our project by the TU Delft’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) since our work involved Human Research Subjects. For this we needed to fill out a form and identify potential risks connected to our activities involving Human Subjects (interviewees), create a data management plan approved by the Faculty Data Steward and write an Informed Consent Form. Prior to all interviews, the Informed Consent Form was sent asking for consent for posting and eventually sending the interviewees the transcript of our conversation for their approval for sharing the information on the wiki webpage.</p>
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<divclass="h1">Integrated Human Practices</div>
<divclass="h1">Integrated Human Practices</div>
<p>In our IHP part we tell how we integrated the ideas from the interactions with stakeholders. You can read about each interview and what we learned from it in <strong>Stakeholders we talked to</strong>.</p>
<p>In our IHP part we tell how we integrated the ideas from the interactions with stakeholders. You can read about each interview and what we learned from it in <strong>Stakeholders we talked to</strong>.</p>
<divclass="h2">Safety/Environmental impact</div>
<divclass="h2">Safety/Environmental impact</div>
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<p>We asked the question <strong>How to possibly bring about change </strong>? After the conversation with Amrit, we concluded that people should rely more on science and understand the benefits so less opposition would be there to change the strict GMO rules in the EU and its member states. This means there should be more science-communication between research and society. When we asked how we should communicate our projects she said ‘the benefits should be mentioned first. We need to say what can our project help achieve and why does it matter, and why it wouldn’t work with what we already have. People are open to genetic modification if it’s for a greater good.’</p>
<p>We asked the question <strong>How to possibly bring about change </strong>? After the conversation with Amrit, we concluded that people should rely more on science and understand the benefits so less opposition would be there to change the strict GMO rules in the EU and its member states. This means there should be more science-communication between research and society. When we asked how we should communicate our projects she said ‘the benefits should be mentioned first. We need to say what can our project help achieve and why does it matter, and why it wouldn’t work with what we already have. People are open to genetic modification if it’s for a greater good.’</p>
<p>We also asked how farmers approach the GM crops in Europe. Farmers are generally not against the notion of GMOs (the ethical side). The possible opposition is more about the ‘practical side than the concept’. The main interest for farmers is the benefits of the plant variety e.g., more resistance to disease or drought. It would be of interest for farmers if we prove that we can reduce the price of cultivation by reducing the fertilizer needed, but only if the price of the seeds was still affordable compared to yield. However, GM plant products need to be processed and separated from non-GMOs because of the traceability and labelling requirements in the EU. This adds extra costs and makes it difficult to sell, as processors and retailers do not want to use or sell such products.</p>
<p>We also asked how farmers approach the GM crops in Europe. Farmers are generally not against the notion of GMOs (the ethical side). The possible opposition is more about the ‘practical side than the concept’. The main interest for farmers is the benefits of the plant variety e.g., more resistance to disease or drought. It would be of interest for farmers if we prove that we can reduce the price of cultivation by reducing the fertilizer needed, but only if the price of the seeds was still affordable compared to yield. However, GM plant products need to be processed and separated from non-GMOs because of the traceability and labelling requirements in the EU. This adds extra costs and makes it difficult to sell, as processors and retailers do not want to use or sell such products.</p>
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<divclass="h1">Final Implementation</div>
<divclass="h1">Final Implementation</div>
<p>From the discussions and elaborations on different values and impacts we came to some points and designs that we can implement in our idea. Instead of having a final product in our project we are elaborating on a roadmap with the essential steps to create our imagined nitrogen-fixing crop. Our experiments are telling information about the beginning of two steps of this roadmap as a foundation for future research lines. Therefore most of the applicable ideas in our IHP work are relevant for a potential product, which we thought to be GM seeds potential plant genetic trait. These ideas tell us about how we imagine to mitigate risks that could be social or legal, or environmental problems when this future product is developed. We believe that our idea could serve as a solution for sustainable farming regarding the nitrogen problem. However, we are aware it could be very hard to get a viable crop plant that successfully incorporates the nitroplast and needs less fertilizer than the current breeds while maintaining sufficient yields. Therefore, based on the conversation with KWS Seeds, we thought of an alternative approach that could potentially more easily lead to the same result. Additionally further approaches are also discussed. </p>
<p>From the discussions and elaborations on different values and impacts we came to some points and designs that we can implement in our idea. Instead of having a final product in our project we are elaborating on a roadmap with the essential steps to create our imagined nitrogen-fixing crop. Our experiments are telling information about the beginning of two steps of this roadmap as a foundation for future research lines. Therefore most of the applicable ideas in our IHP work are relevant for a potential product, which we thought to be GM seeds potential plant genetic trait. These ideas tell us about how we imagine to mitigate risks that could be social or legal, or environmental problems when this future product is developed. We believe that our idea could serve as a solution for sustainable farming regarding the nitrogen problem. However, we are aware it could be very hard to get a viable crop plant that successfully incorporates the nitroplast and needs less fertilizer than the current breeds while maintaining sufficient yields. Therefore, based on the conversation with KWS Seeds, we thought of an alternative approach that could potentially more easily lead to the same result. Additionally further approaches are also discussed. </p>
<p>Note: in this section some part the term nitroplast is used in general for a nitrogen-fixing organelle, but in other parts of our wiki it solely refers to UCYN-A</p>
<p>Note: in this section some part the term nitroplast is used in general for a nitrogen-fixing organelle, but in other parts of our wiki it solely refers to UCYN-A</p>
