How to make Participatory Technology Assessment in agriculture more “participatory”: The case of genetically modified plants

This paper suggests a framework, based on Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH), to guide the organisation and management of expert-facilitated and participatory processes that allow for stakeholders' different interests, concerns, and values to be included in the assessment and policy making of GM plants. The framework is particularly useful for stakeholders, such as governments, foundations, and researchers, who attempt to facilitate inclusive and democratic processes to assess GM plants. The use of the framework is illustrated by evaluating the report from a citizen jury carried out to assess the cultivation of new GM plants in Denmark. Furthermore, through this illustration, the term Participatory Technology Assessment (PTA) is redefined, thereby suggesting two additional aspects to assessing new technologies - following and evaluating policy making - to be considered in the conduct of PTA.