Monique van Vegchel, Policy Specialist at Plantum : “There is an urgent need for predictable seed performance”

>>> Seeds play a fundamental role in improving food security and nutrition, supporting the livelihoods of farmers and rural communities, and contributing to sustainable resource use and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Against such a backdrop, what are the main issues for seed producers today?

Monique van Vegchel: Considering what is at stake, the main challenge for seed producers is to make sure that they provide farmers with seeds that offer stable yields, regardless of all constraints. As the impact of climate change makes things more and more unpredictable, whether it is in terms of weather or crop yields, there is an urgent need for predictable seeds performance. While this is highly complex, as various elements interact – soil quality, amount of water, temperatures, etc. – breeders need to put on the market seeds that perform well under any circumstances.

>>> From what you are saying, innovation and access to new varieties seem essential to improve agricultural production’s productivity, sustainability and resilience to climate change. Will the new European legislation on New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) be the solution?

M. v. V. : NGTs are indeed part of the answer, as they are particularly relevant in speeding up the breeding process. This doesn’t mean, however, that it is the silver bullet. NGTs are, in fact, an additional tool. True, NGTs, such as CRISPR-Cas, are one of the most ground-breaking innovations of the past years. But the use of NGTs still requires extensive knowledge of your crop genome to achieve the desired results. And again, climate change is now so strong and so rapid in its evolution that it requires a quicker pace in terms of new seeds being put on the market.

Yet at the moment, breeders have a hard time keeping up with the pace of climate change. These are new issues, so we need new answers. Significant steps have been taken to usher a new era, that of NGTs. And we have seen various milestones: first, the European Commission released its proposals on NGTs and Plant Reproductive Material on July 5, 2023.

Then, in early February 2024, members of the European Parliament expressed their support for a simpler process for NGTs plants equivalent to conventional plants, while others must follow stricter rules. Now that this position has been adopted, the European Council needs to reach its own position, so negotiations between the Commission, the Parliament and the Council can start. And after this, the new legislation will have to be implemented. One could argue that this process doesn’t go fast enough, since seeds breeders can’t really move forward and use NGTs at the moment, unless they go through a very cumbersome administrative process linked to the old Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) European legislation.

And in the meantime, of course, climate change itself doesn’t stop. But it is nevertheless good to have had a debate on NGTs, with scientific facts being presented, and then iron out a strong and balanced framework, giving business players the freedom to use these techniques - or not, if they don’t want to. I believe the use of NGTs should become a viable option for all actors who would choose to use them, particularly SMEs. In other words, NGTs need to become more readily available. They need to be democratized.

>>> Is Europe well placed in this race?

M. v. V. : Of course, I would have liked to see the debate on NGTs take place earlier in Europe. Anyway, it is not too late and Europe is still in the race, especially since its seeds sector is very strong and its qualities are internationally recognized. This being said, while Europe was hesitating, the rest of the world was moving on and some countries, such as the United States and Japan, have already put on the market some vegetables using genome-editing crossbreeding technology.

In the U.S., an example is a new variety of mustard greens, commercialized since May 2023. Mustard greens have more nutritional value than the traditional romaine lettuce, but since they are bitter, this makes them undesirable for consumers. With editing techniques, scientists managed to remove part of the bitter taste, making this produce more edible in salads.

So, technology improves consumers’ diet and health. In Japan, the first CRISPR tomatoes have been approved in early 2021 and sold in supermarkets since February 2024. Compared to conventionally-bred tomatoes, the CRISPR tomatoes contain a much higher concentration of a plant compound (GABA) that can decrease the transmission of specific signals in the central nervous system, which may in turn result in lower blood pressure, according to the claim being made and printed on the package.

It is interesting to note that these new seeds and plants seem to focus solely on human health. Maybe because seeds and plants’ traits involving resilience to climate change are more complex to deal with. But I am certain more NGTs-crops that deal with resilience, as well as varieties that need fewer inputs, such as fertilizer or plant protection products, will enter the global market soon.

>>> Some companies now embark on new ways of developing seeds with artificial intelligence. Is this the future? What do you expect from such new technologies?

M. v. V. : This is indeed the next big thing. The future of seeds breeding will be data-driven. It is true, for instance, for Marker assisted selection (MAS), an indirect selection process where a trait of interest is selected based on a marker variation (biochemical or DNA, for example), linked to a trait of interest (productivity, disease resistance...), rather than on the trait itself.

This process has already been extensively researched for plant breeding, so this is not new, but progress can still be made, for various crops, from wheat to corn but also for vegetables, fruits and the ornamental plants sector. In enabling the analysis of huge amounts of data, artificial intelligence (AI) allows us to make sense of the data and statistics collected and will speed up progress towards efficiency in the breeding process.

It will have a huge impact, as we need seeds and plants varieties that are more resistant and allowing the use of as little chemical fertilizers or chemical plant protection agents as possible. Most breeding companies, small and large, are now using AI and developing programs to increase its use and remain competitive. It only makes business sense!

>>> In this respect, what would be the ideal set up for public / private cooperation?

M. v. V. : Public and private cooperation is already taking place. In the Netherlands, we have broad and very successful experiences with this kind of cooperation. For example, the CropXR institute, dedicated to developing more resilient crops through innovative ‘smart breeding’, has recently been launched. It puts together experimental research (with institutions such as Wageningen University and Research, whose main focus is healthy food and living environment), with Plantum and business partners, such as Limagrain and Sakata Seeds.

Apart from fundamental research, this institute focuses on artificial intelligence and computational modeling, with the goal of developing technology and methods to generate new crop varieties that are better adjusted to climate change and less dependent on harmful agricultural interventions.

Public and private funding is necessary to support such an endeavor and this is the case with CropXR. For one good reason: considering the complexity of the current climate situation and its impacts on agricultural production, it is impossible for a private company to think that it can do it alone. We need all the synergies possible to go, as fast as possible, from the lab to the field.