We all know that vegetables are good for you. And with advances in plant breeding innovation, this can accelerate the improvement of seed varieties for the benefit of agriculture and consumers on a global basis.
“In the last decade alone, crop-focused gene editing research projects have grown exponentially,” says Szabolcs Ruthner, regulatory affairs specialist at the International Seed Federation.
“Studies that focused specifically on bringing gene edited plant products into the marketplace have already surpassed 200 peer-reviewed publications,” he says. “That number continues to grow. We see a huge diversity in developers, species, and improved characteristics in 25 different countries. This gives us plenty of reasons to be thrilled about the future of this method.”
“At the moment, the biggest limitation is the legislative uncertainty in many areas of the world,” he says. “Therefore, we see only niche products on niche markets and there is no product being commercialized with global relevance.”
