Viewpoint; Europe needs to embrace cutting-edge biotechnologies for food sustainability and security

Credit: USDA
Credit: USDA

In order to feed a world population of 10 billion in 2050, we must act on all the factors that can affect agricultural production potential. Indeed, there are considerable production losses from the field to the consumer’s plate. One third of the food produced for consumers is lost or wasted according to the FAO. To this waste must be added production losses at the crop level, from sowing to harvesting.

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France and Europe, which have intervened at the regulatory level to limit waste at the distribution and consumption stage, must now urgently adapt the regulations in force to allow new genomic technologies (NGT) to make their contribution to limiting production losses at the crop level. The future resilience of our agriculture and thus the safeguarding of our production potential are at stake.

Breeders must be able to use all technologies, including those derived from genetic engineering, as they become available. Regulations must keep pace with these developments and must be adapted to take into account acquired knowledge. Development of these technologies will make it possible to limit potential production losses during cultivation, allowing quantitative and qualitative yield to reach as close as possible its optimum genetic potential in a given environment.

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