** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** THE SCIENTIFIC AND POLITICAL CONSENSUS IS THAT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED (I.E., BIOENGINEERED AND GENE-EDITED) FOOD PRODUCTS ARE SAFE TO PRODUCE AND CONSUME (U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION 2022). NEVERTHELESS, CONSUMERS STILL TEND TO DISCOUNT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD PRODUCTS RELATIVE TO OTHER ALTERNATIVES (E.G., CONVENTIONAL, ORGANIC, AND NON-GMO). ONE HYPOTHESIZED REASON FOR THIS IS THE LACK OF TRUST IN THE SCIENCE BEHIND NEW AGRI-FOOD BIOTECHNOLOGIES, LIKE GENETIC ENGINEERING, AS WELL AS THE ACTORS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN THAT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COMMUNICATING IT TO THE END-USER (E.G., PRODUCERS, POLICYMAKERS, AND INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS).THIS PROJECT PROPOSES A TRACKING SURVEY TO CAPTURE BOTH SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATIONS IN CONSUMER'S TRUST IN SCIENCE AND ACCEPTANCE OF NEW AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD TECHNOLOGIES. WE WILL PAIR ESTABLISHED TRUST MEASURES WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART CONSUMER EXPERIMENTS TO EVALUATE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN TRUST AND CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING RELATED TO NEW ANDEMERGING FOOD PRODUCTS PRODUCED WITH BIOTECHNOLOGY. FURTHER, ACKNOWLEDGING THE NEED FOR AN OPEN EXCHANGE AND PARTICIPATORY APPROACH ACROSS STAKEHOLDER GROUPS TO FOSTER TRUST, WE WILL NOT ONLY REPORT OUR RESULTS THROUGH A VARIETY OF CHANNELS AND FORMATS, INCLUDING DATA DASHBOARDS, BUT ALSO INVITE INTERESTED PARTIES TO PROVIDE COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS THEY WANT US TO ADDRESS WITH OUR SURVEY.RESULTS FROM THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE INVALUABLE INFORMATION THAT CAN BE USED NOT ONLY BY FOOD COMPANIES AND MARKETERS BUT ALSO BY PUBLIC POLICY MAKERS IN RELATION TO A VERY IMPORTANT AND CURRENT ISSUE: ADOPTION OF NEW FOOD TECHNOLOGIES IN THE AGRI-FOOD AREA.