Agriculture today is facing very serious challenges for which new tools are needed. The planet’s population is increasing while arable land is decreasing due to overbuilding and climate changes that lead to desertification phenomena, even in Italy.
Climate change also sometimes renders the cultivated varieties inadequate, which were selected when the climate was colder, and changes the biological cycles of plants, pests and diseases.
Finally, new EU agricultural policies push farmers to increasingly reduce the means of production, in particular crop protection products and fertilizers. To respond to all these challenges, it is necessary to have access to innovative tools, such as new genetic improvement techniques.
Some parts of the scientific world are proposing to completely change the approach to the question: that the product is regulated instead of the technique. It certainly seems more sensible: consider whether a plant is safe, useful, stable, rather than considering the method with which it was obtained. After all, a book is not judged by whether it was written with a typewriter, pen or PC, but by its contents.
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[Editor’s note: This article has been translated from Italian and edited for clarity.]
